Amongst Untrodden Ways: Detours
by SecretEngima
Summary: A repository of moments and snapshots that take place in between, before, or after various chapters in Amongst Untrodden Ways. Welcome one and all, but beware of wayward spells, flying chairs, giant monsters, and -of course- high doses of Fairy Tail Luck that will lead you off the beaten path.
1. Chapter 1 - A Glimpse Forward

**Author's Note: Hello all! After finally (FINALLY!) finishing a one-shot for Amongst Untrodden Ways, I have created a one-shot collection story to accompany my main Fairy Tail story. Like with Harmonies of a Second Chance, this will be where I put the moments that either don't fit with the flow of the plot but I liked, or are just random moments that happen to the characters that I was inspired to write. Note that they will not necessarily be in chronological order, so if you're confused as to when a one-shot is occurring and how far into the story it is, just check under the Chapter Title, there should be a (set between chapters X and Y) thing. Also note that this will not be updated regularly, just when inspiration strikes and I have something to post. For those who are interested, I am still working on the latest AUW chapter, I've just been busy with life and all.**

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 **A Glimpse Forward**

 **(November 16th, X774)**

 **(Set between AUW Chapters 26 and 27)**

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Rihanna … honestly had no idea what was going on. She had slipped away from the lighthouse to get some fresh air and time to herself after dealing with the lack of general privacy and quiet that came from having four -occasionally five- people live in a house only meant for two to three people for almost two weeks.

It had grated on her last nerve and, for fear of losing her temper and accidentally affirming Freed's and Evergreen's fear in her, she had convinced Bickslow to let her go explore Magnolia by herself for a few hours. Bickslow hadn't been too happy with the idea. But, he knew that Rihanna was good at keeping herself out of trouble unless they were out on a job and he could clearly see the strain her surroundings were putting on her patience, so he had relented.

It had been wonderful. The crisp fall sun had been shining, a breeze just cold enough to be refreshing but not chilling had been playing through the streets, and the leaves were gorgeous as they turned their colors.

Then something that felt like an electric shock had ripped through her body without warning, and a flash of light had enveloped her. Even through her shock as her surroundings disappeared in the light and a tugging sensation wrapped around her, Rihanna braced herself for a fight. _Oh, for the love of Pantherlily! Can't Fairy Tail Luck leave me alone for just a few bloody hours?_

After what felt like both an eternity and only a few seconds of waiting, the tugging sensation eased, the light began to fade, and Rihanna exploded into motion. Rolling forward, she coiled the shadows tightly around her before unleashing them in a circular shockwave, intent on getting space between herself and her would-be kidnappers. Shouts of surprise and loud crashes signaled the success of her surprise attack, but Rihanna didn't allow herself feel any triumph yet. She still had to get away and figure out just what had happened and why.

She felt more than saw a hand reaching to grasp her and quickly shifted into her shadow form to dodge. She bolted wildly out the door, not even stopping to wonder why her attempted kidnappers would be dumb enough to leave the door wide open to the outside where she could escape. Unless it was a trap, but she'd worry about that later.

Behind her, the shouting continued, with various voices shouting for her to wait or for someone to stop her as Rihanna sprinted out of the doors and took a sharp left. She ran for several minutes, flitting from shadow to shadow and even teleporting to the rooftops before she finally slowed to a stop to get her bearings. She crouched on the roof tiles of a house, mouth open slightly as she panted.

Her mouth dropped open further in confusion as she finally took in her surroundings and realized where she was. Namely, still in Magnolia, about seven blocks away from the guild building, currently perched on a roof in one of the many residential districts. _Seriously? Someone uses a random teleport to kidnap me and they didn't even bother to leave Magnolia? Could they not use whatever spell that was very far away from the target?_

Rihanna looked around cautiously, trying to spot any signs of pursuers or enemies or even just something crazier than normal that might indicate trouble. Nothing came to her attention. Citizens were wandering the streets, calling friendly greetings and chatting. The sun was still shining, when she dropped out of shadow form she could see that the leaves were still turning pretty colors, and the breeze was still just the right mix of crisp and refreshing without being cold.

 _I know I didn't just imagine it…_ Rihanna frowned worriedly, _I should get back to the_ Raijinshū, _warn them about this. Or should I go to the guild building first?_ She glanced in the direction of the guild, then did a double-take of shock. _What. In the name. Of Pantherlily._

That was **not** the guild building she knew.

Check that, it **was** the guild building she knew, just not from personal experience.

Huge and made of grey stone, complete with an imposing bell-tower and Fairy Tail's signature flag, it towered over most of the town, a unmistakable landmark to all who passed by. _That's … that's the second guild building, isn't it? The one they built after Phantom Lord totaled the first one?_ She shook her head, rubbed her eyes, then looked again. The building was still there, still huge, and still not the one she wanted to see. _What. The. Heck?_

She stared at the familiar yet unfamiliar building for a long time, struggling to get her thoughts in order and decide on a course of action. Just as she was at the height of an internal argument over whether or not to try to find Makarov or just hide until the … whatever had happened had worn off, soft footsteps tapped across the tiles behind her.

Tensing, Rihanna whirled, shadows sliding up her arms liked snakes poised to strike in her defense. The figure crouched, hands outstretched in front of him in a gesture of non-aggression, "Easy, _Imōto_ , I'm not going to hurt you…" Rihanna felt herself freeze from shock for the second time that day, her breath rushing from her lungs at the sight of the figure in front of her.

He was tall, with darker clothing reminiscent of a knight's, a silver visor set aside on the tiles to reveal calm red eyes and a stick figure tattoo stamped on the middle of his face. Unmistakable blue hair that was on the shaggy side hung down to just below his ears. As if all of those things were not enough to identify him, a faint, familiar chittering filled the air as five tiki dolls hovered just behind his shoulders.

 _…_ _Bickslow?_ It had to be, and yet it **couldn't be** , because she had just seen Bickslow that morning and he had been **twelve**. Not an adult of at least twenty. This was the Bickslow she knew from the anime, yet that couldn't be true because her Bickslow was still a child, her brother had yet to become the wild, eccentrically dressed figure from the anime and yet here he stood before her-

Red eyes flashed a brief green in concern and he inched a step closer, "Wren. Wren, stop. It's okay. Calm down and breathe. It's **me** , _Imōto_ , I promise. I know everything's confusing right now, but it'll be okay. Just breathe with me, alright? Just breathe."

Dimly, Rihanna realized that she was hyperventilating. Her lungs struggled for air as her head swam and she curled into a defensive ball and tried to make the world make sense again. A helpless, soundless giggle escaped her as a little voice in her head jeered, _a fictional anime world make sense! As if!_

She heard the man -adult Bickslow? Illusion? Hallucination?- bite out a quiet curse and a second later strong arms pulled her tight to a warm chest. Rihanna struggled against his grip, but she was too busy trying to breathe and think past the whirling hysteria in her head to really put effort into escaping. A hand -too large, not right, yet somehow comforting and recognizable- gently stroked her curls, his chest vibrating as he murmured, "It's okay, I promise. It's okay. Whatever you're seeing, it won't hurt you. I won't hurt you. Nothing will hurt you. We'll fix this, I **promise** , _Imōto_ , so calm down. It's okay…"

He continued like that for while. Muttering soothing nothings and reassurances into her hair as he cradled her close, his arms so foreign and yet somehow so familiar that Rihanna couldn't help but slowly calm down. When Rihanna's panic had finally faded to manageable levels, Bickslow allowed her to pull away from him, "Better now, _Imōto_?"

Rihanna stomped down on her embarrassment at the panic attack, she was perfectly justified considering the circumstances. She nodded in answer to his question and then rapidly signed out, _"What happened? Where am I? How did…"_ She searched for the right word but failed to find one that would adequately describe what she was thinking. She was fairly certain this was some kind of time-travel, but that concept had never come up before and so there were no words to convey it.

Bickslow's eyebrow climbed a bit and he offered a dry, "How did I get so old?" Rihanna nodded, figuring that if it was time-travel, Bickslow would tell her if only to dispel the notion that he was old. The man who was somehow her brother gave a rueful smile, "That is a long story, _Imōto_ , which can basically be summed up in 'Fairy Tail Luck'."

Rihanna deadpanned at him, _well of course it is. When is it ever_ ** _not_** _Fairy Tail Luck?_ Her flat expression faltered and she gave a silent yip of surprise at the sensation of Bickslow sweeping her up into his arms. Bickslow chuckled at her flailing, "Easy, Wren. It'll be faster this way."

Rihanna glowered up at him even while a part of her wondered when he had reattached his visor and raised the hood of his outfit. She didn't appreciate being suddenly picked up without warning, even if it was Bickslow. _An older Bickslow who is taking this whole … thing way too calmly. What if I'm stuck here? What happened to older me? An older me exists right? Right?_ She pushed that thought away before panic could sneak up on her again. She would wait until someone gave her more detailed explanation than "Fairy Tail Luck" before panicking again.

Bickslow hummed softly as he carried her back to the guild building, his tikis chittering nonsense in a way that was oddly soothing. If nothing else, Bickslow's overly talkative tikis hadn't changed a bit. Even if there were two more of them now than when she had last seen him. To distract herself, she tapped Bickslow's shoulder and then pointed at the two unfamiliar tikis.

He followed her finger, then grinned, "Oh yeah, you probably haven't met them yet, have you? That one is Peppe, and the one doing loop-de-loops is Poppo. Peppe, Poppo, say hi." The two tikis zipped closer and chirped out cheerful hellos that made Rihanna smile on reflex. Bickslow kept up a steady, cheerful stream of chatter on unimportant subjects for the rest of the journey to the guild, successfully distracting Rihanna until they reached the huge doors of Fairy Tail's rebuilt home.

Bickslow strode through, stopping just after he had passed over the threshold and into the main hall. Rihanna stared out over a scene of complete chaos. People were shouting frantically and what looked to be maps were spread out on some of the tables while several members tempers snapped and they started fighting. It was all very familiar … except for the fact that it wasn't.

The sheer oddity of her situation hit Rihanna full force again as, in the middle of the chaos, vivid scarlet hair flared like a banner and a low feminine voice roared out orders like a queen. An armored fist lashed out like lightning, striking first a head of bright pink hair, then a head of coal black hair that had been butting up against the pink haired noggin moments earlier. The owners of the heads both yelped and protested, only to quail under the force of the red-head's glare as she thundered, "That's enough you two! We have no time for your fighting! We have to find Wren!"

It was like a scene straight out of the anime, only it was right there in front of her. Rihanna's heart skipped a beat, then two, as she registered even more details. There was small girl with long, deep blue hair and chocolate brown eyes standing by the bar looking vaguely nervous. Standing on top of the bar next to the girl was a scowling white cat that stood on its hind paws and wore a dress.

An earsplitting screech went up as a blond dressed in a shirt far too low-cut for Rihanna's tastes barely managed to dodge a chair that someone had just thrown at someone else. At the far corner of the bar, a tall figure with a shaggy black mane and red eyes watched the chaos with a bored, vaguely murderous expression on his face while a young woman with white hair and rich blue eyes poured him a drink.

 _It's … this is …_ Rihanna twisted around to look up at Bickslow again, noticing once again just how different he looked from what she had seen of him that morning. A strong jaw, the visor that obscured his eyes and the upper half of his face. A purple hood that hid his hair with a pony-tail of matching purple feathers swayed with every motion he made.

She looked back at the chaos in front of her and felt suddenly faint, _It's really them. The main cast of the Fairy Tail anime. It's Team Natsu._

Rihanna would have to assume later that she went temporarily into shock, because the next thing she knew, the shouting in the guild had stopped, Bickslow had set her onto the bar, and there were a bunch of uncannily familiar strangers clustering around her new perch.

The pinkette, Natsu, leaned well into her personal space with a low noise of contemplation, his eyes wide and intense as he stared at her for several seconds. He abruptly leaned back, clutched his hair with his hands, and shouted, "Gaah! What do we do? She shrunk!"

The boy who she could only assume was Gray -who else in the anime managed to lose his jacket and shirt within the span of a few seconds?- slammed a fist down onto Natsu's head, "Yeah, and who's fault is that, moron?"

Natsu whirled around and slammed his forehead against Gray's. Rihanna internally winced at the audible "thock" noise it caused even as she watched their argument in wary fascination, "Who you calling moron, ya squinty-eyed jerk?"

"You, flame-brain! See any other morons around here?"

 _Are those magic auras? Over something so petty? Yes. Yes they are. Huh, that's … both amazing and ridiculous at the same time._ "I'm looking at one, stripper! And I ain't a moron!"

"Oh yeah, bast-" Rihanna's wince was physical this time at the painful crashing sound of Erza's fists slamming down onto the arguing boys' heads.

Erza loomed over them with her infamous Look, hair actually managing to wave in a breeze Rihanna could only conclude was being caused by the thick red aura around her, "I just said **no fighting**!"

Erza turned to Rihanna and then, much to Rihanna's shock, bowed low at the waist, "My deepest apologies, Wren-senpai, I should have stopped Natsu earlier before this kind of disaster could happen!" _Senpai?_ ** _Senpai_** _? Why in the world is_ ** _Erza_** _calling me_ ** _senpai_** _?_

Rihanna shot Bickslow a wide-eyed look and the jerk had the nerve to merely tongue-grin at her panic. Before Rihanna could glare the adult Bickslow into actually explaining what on earth was going on, the curious crowd was roughly shoved aside by three loudly shouting persons. Before Rihanna could fully process who said persons were, she had been snatched up off the bar and crushed to a very … large chest as a feminine voice wailed in her ear, "Oh, Wren, we were so worried~!"

Personal space completely destroyed and temper dangerously frayed by stress, Rihanna reached for her shadows. An instant later, hands had plucked her from the grasp of her previous captor and set her back onto the bar. Bickslow's deep, adult voice identified her rescuer, "Easy there, Ever, she probably doesn't even recognize you."

The woman who had been bear-hugging her, -adult Evergreen?- pouted and crossed her arms, "Not recognize me? But we're _Raijinshū_!"

Bickslow's tikis chittered irritatedly as he replied, "And she's not from this time."

A woman who looked like the anime Cana, only with an actual keyhole-neck shirt instead of a bikini top, raised an eyebrow, "Is **that** what happened? How do you know?"

Bickslow grinned at them, "She asked me how I suddenly got old." Rihanna glared at him, using her irritation to keep from being completely overwhelmed, _I did not!_

Freed -and it had to be Freed, what other man in Fairy Tail had such ridiculously long green hair- frowned faintly, "Then there is a chance she does not know us at all at this point."

Cana flapped a hand, "Then we'll just have to introduce ourselves while Levy figures out how to fix Natsu's latest mess up." Ignoring the indignant protest in the background from said pinkette, Cana leaned her hip against the bar and said, "Okay, let's start from the top. How old are you, and do you recognize anyone? I'm Cana, by the way."

Technically, Rihanna recognized almost everyone there, but as for those she had personally met before the current point… _"I know you, Freed, Evergreen, and Bickslow."_ She paused before adding reluctantly, _"I'm six."_

To her surprise, Bickslow didn't translate her signs, and no one seemed to need him to do so. Instead, Cana nodded, "Six, huh? So you must be from not long after Freed and Ever joined up. Okay then. The pink idiot over there is Natsu, it's his fault you're here now." Natsu protested again only to be silenced by Erza using The Look. Cana continued as if nothing had happened, "The guy **who needs to put his underwear back on** , is Gray." Gray yelped an embarrassed curse and Rihanna was very glad that Gray had been shoved far enough back into the crowd that she couldn't see the full results of his … problem … with retaining clothing.

"The woman with the armor and your death glare is Erza," Cana smirked, "she's also your _kohai_." Rihanna gave Cana a wide-eyed look, _wait, Erza was serious with the senpai thing? What?_

Erza, apparently unaware of how Rihanna's mind was exploding, nodded warmly to her and said, "I have owe much to your future self, Wren-senpai." _Much?_ ** _Much_** _? Please let her be exaggerating. What in the world could_ ** _I_** _do for_ ** _Erza Scarlet_** _?_

Bickslow gave her a completely unhelpful pat on the back in response to her stupefied and disbelieving expression. Cana kept blithely introducing people, "That one over there is Lucy, she's one of our newest members," Lucy waved and gave a cheerful "hello", "The white cat on the bar is Carla," Carla nodded a brief greeting, "and the girl next to her is-"

A blue cat interrupted, floating over to Rihanna on fluffy white wings with a cheerful, "Ai! I'm Happy! Do you want a fish, Chibi-Wren?" _No … no I do not want a -oh Mavis it's still wiggling- fish. And who are you calling chibi?_ Happy withered under Rihanna's Look, but she could hear several people in the background cooing over how cute she was at her current age.

Cana rolled her eyes and resumed introductions, " **Anyway** , that's Wendy over there, she's also a new member."

Wendy waved shyly, "Nice to meet you … ah, again? For the first time? Wren-san." Rihanna waved back and smiled. Because really, how could she not when Wendy was five times more adorable in person than in the anime?

Her musing on the adorable-ness that was Wendy was broken by Gajeel shoving Freed and Evergreen aside to lean into her personal space the same way Natsu had. Rihanna did her best to meet Gajeel's intense red eyes without flinching. _No concept of personal space much?_

Finally, Gajeel leaned back with a smirk and a curt, "So, you really were always a midget, huh?"

Perhaps it was the stress, perhaps it was her pride, perhaps a mixture of both. Whatever the reason, Rihanna didn't hesitate to slap Gajeel over the head with one of her shadows for his comment. Instead of getting angry, the Dragon Slayer actually had the nerve to laugh as he sauntered off to sit on a barstool a few feet away. Cana eyed the man's back as he left, "That was Gajeel. I'd like to say he isn't always like that, but that's actually about as polite and friendly as he gets around anyone who isn't his cat." _His cat? So that means-?_

Someone saw fit to plop something in her lap without ceremony. The something gave a low grunt of surprise, or perhaps indignation, before looking up at Rihanna and saying solemnly, "I am Pantherlily. It's nice to meet you."

Rihanna stared, and stared, and then stared some more. She couldn't help it. The intensely fangirl part of her that she had thought had died long ago on the streets of Aternum revealed itself to be alive just long enough to give a shriek of delight at meeting **the** Pantherlily before it died again from the sheer joy of **Pantherlily sitting on her lap**.

She had always loved cats. Even normal cats from her world. Particularly black cats, as the first cat she'd ever owned had been a little fluffy black fellow who adored cuddles and had eyesight as bad as a mole's.

Happy had actually been her absolute favorite character -yes, even over Laxus, Natsu, and Jellal- back when she'd first started watching, so then when the anime had introduced a talking, flying, sword-wielding **black cat**?

Instant fangirl for life and proud of it. She'd even had his plush toy before she'd wound up on Earthland.

Before she was even really aware of what she was doing, the fingers of one hand had started to gingerly card through his surprisingly thick black fur. Pantherlily grunted at her action and Rihanna froze, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment even though she really, really wanted to keep petting him. Because, **Pantherlily**. That and she hadn't gotten to pet a cat in years.

Serious orange eyes regarded her for several long seconds and she must have had a pleading look on her face because he finally sighed, "You may continue. But just for a little bit."

Rihanna couldn't stop the huge grin that split her face as she gingerly resumed petting Pantherlily's head, inwardly marveling at how soft his fur was even as her inner fangirl revived from the grave yet again and started squealing.

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Bickslow watched his little sister -now **very** little sister- pet the stoic Pantherlily with a look of absolute awe and something bordering on hero worship. She was completely oblivious to anyone else in the room, as evidenced by the lack of glares over the many "awws" that went up from the crowd at her actions. With a low chuckle, Bickslow leaned over to whisper in Cana's ear, "Well, now we know why she kept swearing on the name of Pantherlily years before any of us even knew what a Pantherlily was."

Cana smothered a laugh and whispered back, "If she moves her hand two inches to the left, he's going to start-" a surprised noise came from Pantherlily before he went boneless and a deep rumbling sound filled the air, Wren looked like she was in heaven, "purring."

It took several minutes before Gajeel, the only one immune to the sheer cuteness of the scene, got tired of someone else holding his cat and snatched Pantherlily away. The look Wren shot him as he did so could have killed, and suddenly Bickslow wondered just how long his sister could hold a grudge. Because it would certainly explain a few of her interactions with the Iron Dragon Slayer.

Bickslow decided to speak up and distract his little sister before she decided to retaliate against Gajeel, "Yo, Juvia!"

The blunette wove her way through the crowd to stand in front of the bar, "Yes, Bickslow-kun?"

Bickslow gave her a brief grin before turning to Rihanna and saying, "Wren, this is Juvia, she's a Water Mage and she's strong enough that she can even make it rain."

Juvia nodded a greeting to Wren, "Juvia is pleased to meet Wren-san for the first time. Again." Rihanna gave a tentative nod in return to the Water Mage, which appeared to be enough socialization the bluenette because she promptly wandered off into the slowly dispersing crowd in search of "her Gray-sama". Bickslow gave a tiny sigh of relief when Wren turned to him and asked for more introductions, his distraction from Gajeel's stealing away Pantherlily successful. _Too close._

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Other introductions were made and soon Rihanna had been personally introduced to everyone who had featured in the cast of the anime. Lisanna had been the most baffling aside from Erza's introduction to be honest, because while her siblings had acted normally enough, with Mirajane smiling and Elfman had gently clapping a massive hand against her back and declaring her to be "manly even at such a young age", when Lisanna came up to the bar, she had immediately wrapped Rihanna in a hug.

Just before releasing Rihanna, Lisanna had whispered in her ear, "I know you won't understand why for now … but **thank you** , Wren-chan." Then she had whisked away to another section of the hall, leaving Rihanna to puzzle over just what she meant.

With introductions finally out of the way, Bickslow set about explaining what exactly had happened. The explanation wasn't a very long one really. It could all be summed up with the phrase "Natsu's an idiot" in fact.

The more detailed version was that while perusing the request board for a good job, Natsu had seen a strange poster that asked for someone to decipher what an unknown incantation said and what it did. Natsu, being Natsu, had for whatever reason decided to recite the included incantation aloud while one hand unintentionally waved in the adult-Rihanna's general direction just as she was approaching the request board.

The result of both his recitation and random hand wave had been adult-Rihanna suddenly disappearing in a flash of golden light and current -or was it past?- Rihanna appearing in the guild hall where her older counterpart had just been standing. Before anyone could really process what had happened, Rihanna had knocked everyone off balance with a shadow shockwave and run away. Bickslow had gone after her while everyone else was panicking, and the rest was history.

Upon hearing the story of how the mess had started, Rihanna leveled her best Look at the nearby Natsu and felt vague gratification at how he literally withered to the floor in a bow, spouting apologies the entire way. She was less gratified about how Gray had laughed at Natsu for "being afraid of midget-Wren" but then she had leveled her Look on him and the ice-mage had shut up so fast she heard his teeth click.

Rihanna finally relented in her glaring and turned to the adult _Raijinshū_ , who were lounging nearby, _"So, I'm stuck here until further notice? What about the … other me? Is she back in the past?"_

Freed twisted a strand of his hair around one finger in contemplation, "That is the logical assumption. Levy-san is working to decipher the spell's exact contents and whether or not the spell wears off on its own. Or how to reverse the spell manually if it does not do so by itself. That is why she is not in the hall at the moment, she disappeared into the library. I would help but … Incantation Magic is not very compatible with Runes." He looked apologetic at the end of his explanation and Rihanna waved it away, it wasn't his fault Natsu played with things he shouldn't.

 _Didn't something like this happen in the anime too? It wasn't time-travel, but Natsu said a spell or something and got the rest of his team caught up in it?_ Pushing that thought away for the moment -though she wouldn't be surprised if he had- Rihanna asked, _"So what do I do in the meantime?"_

Cana's face split into a decidedly cat-like grin, "Why, have some fun with us of course! You're just too cute at this age to pass up the opportunity!" Something about Cana's face said "clothes" and "dress up" to Rihanna's trouble-honed instincts and she bolted off of the bar before she could find out if she was right. Both Cana and Evergreen gave chase, shouting things about lace and ribbons and pink.

Considering that those were three things she could barely tolerate separately on a good day, all three of them together in a sentence was more than enough evidence for her to justify slipping into shadow form and hiding in the nearest shadow. Rihanna didn't know whose shadow she had latched onto until Erza paused in the middle of taking a bite of strawberry cake and smiled down at Rihanna's hiding spot knowingly. Rihanna fought down a twitch, _how does she know I'm there? Laxus can't sense me when I latch onto his-_

Her thoughts were interrupted when something rippled through the shadows like a wave, knocking Rihanna back into the real world with a surprised rush of air. Her confusion turned to horror when Erza calmly reached down, picked her up by the back of her shirt, and wandered over to where Cana and Evergreen were searching for her, "Ahem." _No-no-no-no-!_

Cana and Evergreen turned, saw Erza's wiggling prize, and smiled. They were not nice smiles. Rihanna twisted around and shot Bickslow and Freed a desperate look, but Freed stubbornly pretended to be studying the wall and Bickslow was laughing remorselessly. _Traitors the both of you._ Rihanna narrowed her eyes dangerously and silently promised painful revenge.

She had no time to be smug over the fact that the two traitors seemed to sense her thoughts and blanched white, because Erza, Cana, and Evergreen had whisked her away to the back of the guild, still debating which dress to try first. Rihanna fought every step of the process, but she was physically six and they were three fully-grown mage women. Six, once an eerily serene Mirajane, a vaguely nervous but eager Lucy, and a far-too-chipper Juvia joined in. She tried repeatedly to escape, but Erza had somehow figured out a magic-ripple technique that kept knocking her out of shadow form long enough to her to get caught again.

In the end, they managed to wrestle her into a frilly pink ball gown, a completely impractical maid cosplay, a fairy costume, a cat outfit, and a mint green, suspiciously Lolita-esque dress that came with a set of high heels that Rihanna firmly believed should have been illegal in child sizes.

The only consolation to her torture was that Wendy had been foolish enough to wander back to the changing rooms to see what was going and had thus gotten caught by the six dress-happy women as well. She was just as embarrassed by the various costumes as Rihanna, so at least she could share her suffering.

After the second time, Rihanna had cut a deal with the witches so that they would let her at least change her clothes by herself, so Rihanna still got to keep some of her modesty while she planned her escape.

Said escape came in the form of Natsu's and Gray's brawl crashing through the door and setting the nearest pile of fabric on fire, which distracted everyone long enough for Rihanna to grab Wendy's wrist, drop into shadow form with her, and evacuate the guild building.

Rihanna dropped out of shadow form the moment they had left the guild building and turned the corner, but continued to drag Wendy away from the lair of the dress-happy women and toward the nearest safe area she knew of. Buildings and cobblestones gave way to towering trees and deer trails, all signs of civilization fading away completely before Rihanna finally slowed to a stop.

Wendy bent over, tiny hands pressed to her knees to keep her upright as she panted. Rihanna wasn't too much better, she hadn't had a chance to kick off the ridiculous high heels that had come with the Lolita outfit before making a break for it. _Why the Pantherlily do directors make Hollywood heroines run in these again? If I didn't have magic durability, I swear I would've broken both my ankles just now._

Wendy's pants gave way to high, breathless giggles before she managed to straighten up and beam at Rihanna, "Thank you, Wren-san. I wouldn't have been able to get away on my own."

Rihanna shot Wendy a return smile as she forced her spine straight and took stock of their surroundings. They were deeper in the forest than Rihanna had anticipated considering their footwear and endurance levels. Well past where Laxus usually took them to train. Glancing back at Wendy, Rihanna signed hesitantly, _"Any idea where we are?"_

Wendy looked around with a doubtful expression, " _Ano_ … maybe? I … think I've come by this way with Charla once…" She hung her head, "But I don't know the way back from here, I'm sorry!"

Rihanna waved a hand placatingly, it wasn't Wendy's fault they were so far in the woods. The question now was, how where they going to find their way back? This section of forest was unfamiliar to the both of them and Rihanna couldn't teleport with a passenger that far. Not unless she wanted to pass out for the next three days.

For a moment, both girls just stood there, listening to the lull of the forest life as they tried to figure out a next course of action. Wendy smoothed the wrinkles in her fancy dress nervously, "What do you think we should do, Wren-san?"

Rihanna looked left, looked right, then shrugged and started off to the left, _"Start walking. We'll run into something familiar soon enough."_

Wendy gave a tiny laugh as she fell in step with Rihanna, "Fairy Tail Fallback Strategy Three it is then." Rihanna shot Wendy a puzzled look and Wendy elaborated, "Wren-san- ah, you- ah, your future self, once told me that there were three main fallback strategies for whenever members of Fairy Tail were separated or lost. Strategy One is 'break as much stuff as possible, as loudly as possible until your _nakama_ find you', Strategy Two is 'run around yelling loudly and punch people in the face until you find your _nakama_ ', and Strategy Three is 'wander around until Fairy Tail Luck kicks in and attracts your _nakama_ to you'."

Rihanna tried to decide if she was amused or horrified at the fact that her future self had labeled Fairy Tail fallback strategies, and that they were so accurate to how the cast did things in the anime. Settling on amused, Rihanna signed, _"No Fallback Strategy Four?"_

Wendy nodded with far more seriousness than the subject warranted, "Oh there is. It's 'all the above, in spades'." Rihanna cracked up laughing silently at that. She'd been on enough missions with the _Raijinshū_ to know that if Fairy Tail were to have an official list of fallback strategies, those would be the ones. _Apparently they do have a list of fallback strategies eventually. Mavis save us._

Wendy giggled along with her and the two struck up a pleasant conversation as they walked, Rihanna's illegally high-heeled shoes swinging languidly in one hand as her bare feet padded over the grass and dirt. Wendy was as sweet as she'd been in the anime, but also had a hidden sense of mischief that took Rihanna by surprise. Apparently without Charla or her elders around to remind her of propriety, Wendy had the makings of a good prankster. Though she did fall to her knees and apologize profusely moments after shoving Rihanna into the creek, which was something Rihanna supposed would have to be trained out of her if she was to become a professional prankster.

 _No. Bad Rihanna. No contemplating corrupting the adorable younger generation with your brand of humor. Even if she would make the best accomplice. No one would ever suspect her because of her sweet personalty and how polite she is all the time._ Rihanna clambered out of the creek and waved Wendy's apologies away, though she did retaliate by shaking her wet curls in Wendy's direction and getting the other girl's lavender dress wet.

Afternoon was getting closer and closer to its evening transformation as they padded between the trees and talked. They never spoke specifically of future events, something Rihanna was both pleased and miffed about. On the one hand, timeline preservation. On the other hand, what if there were things she needed to be extra careful about? Preparations that were best done as soon as possible so as to help things in the future? Wendy didn't say anything on those kinds of topics, and Rihanna couldn't bring herself to ask no matter how she was tempted.

However, from the way Wendy spoke, giggling about the latest antics of the guild or mentioning tidbits of what was going on in her life, Rihanna could tell that things were going … well for the guild. They were happy. They were whole. It was also fascinating to hear about the little things that had never been shown in the anime. Conversations and day-trips and shenanigans that made Rihanna laugh and face-palm by turns. They were such small things in the big picture, certainly not important enough to have an episode of the anime dedicated to them. But to Rihanna, they were beautiful. They were important.

Through Wendy's innocent chatter, Rihanna had a picture painted before her. A picture of life, laughter, love, and adventure. One of a Fairy Tail with Rihanna in it, part of it. From everything Wendy told her, despite her worries about how her presence would change the timeline, Fairy Tail was fine. Her family was fine. Her family was-

 _Wait, they're_ ** _what_** _?_ Rihanna's head snapped around to stare openmouthed at Wendy. Wendy read her look and blushed, "Oh, I probably shouldn't have said that! I mean, they probably haven't- it hasn't happened for you yet so I should have-"

Rihanna partially tuned out Wendy's rambling commentary in order to process and accept the information Wendy had accidentally blurted out. Slowly, shock turned into something else and Rihanna felt a grin crawl up her lips, _Oh, I am going to hold this over their heads_ ** _forever_** _. Why didn't I see it earlier? It's so bloody obvious! I'll bet it takes them_ ** _years_** _…_

Rihanna became aware that Wendy had fallen silent and glanced at her questioningly. The bluenette was staring at Rihanna with something of a terrified expression on her face. Rihanna's smile dropped and she cocked her head to one side in question. Wendy shook her head and her hands simultaneously, "I-it's nothing! I-it's just … Bickslow-san was right."

 _"_ _Right?"_

Wendy folded her hands in front of her, "He said once that you hadn't changed all that much from when you were children. You were … how did Freed-san put it? An old soul. I guess I didn't really believe it, but … well… you are just as scary now as you are in the future Wren-san." Rihanna pouted at Wendy, but didn't bother to protest. Apparently, people found her terrifying even when she didn't want to seen as such and that wasn't going to change even in the future.

Trying to think of something else to talk about, a troubling thought suddenly occurred to her. Rihanna wrestled with it for a while, protective worry warring with fear of finding out the worst. Finally, worry won out and Rihanna signed _"How is Laxus? I haven't seen him."_

Wendy paused, "Oh, well … I-, that is to say he-" Dread began to pool in Rihanna's stomach at Wendy's repeated false starts. _The Nirvana Arc came after the Fantasia Arc, which means that in the anime Wendy never met Laxus until the Tenrōjima Arc. Is she trying to tell me that Laxus-? But that … that can't be right, Laxus is nothing like he was in the anime! He would never turn on Fairy Tail! Never! Right?_

Before the dread in her stomach could reach critical mass and the burn in her eyes could turn to tears, something thudded loudly behind them. Rihanna whirled, shadows rising in preparation while Wendy squeaked in startled fear. Both girls gaped in horror for a moment at the … thing looming over them, though Rihanna's horror was more over the fact that something that big had managed to sneak up on them.

The thing, which looked like a mutant monkey that had been dyed neon green and sickly lavender only uglier and then strung up to dry by its stretched out ears, leered down at them, "Pretty girlies~!" _Oh Pantherlilies it_ ** _talks_** _._

One swarthy hand began to reach for them, "Hey, pretty girlies~" Wendy shrieked in fear while Rihanna gave a silent snarl. Wrapping several of her shadow tendrils around the startled creature's head, Rihanna slammed its face into the ground repeatedly, using each slam to emphasize her thoughts, _I. Hate. Perverts. I. Hate. Monkeys. Why. Did Mashima. Create. A species. Of giant._ ** _Pervert!_** **_Monkeys!_**

Rihanna finally released the thing's head and stared apathetically at its groaning form, only distantly noting the deep crater in the ground and the bulbous lumps that had formed from the creature's repeated impacts with the earth. _There._ She turned to Wendy with a huff and signed, _"You really shouldn't scream like that. We're Fairy Tail, we can handle one stupid pervert monkey."_

Wendy started to nod when she glanced over Rihanna's shoulder and paled drastically, " _A-ano_ , what about … ten … pervert monkeys?" Rihanna froze, then slowly looked over her shoulder, _Oh you've_ ** _got_** _to be kidding me._ Ten identical leers bloomed and the phrase, "Pretty girlies~" echoed in stereo around them.

Rihanna's feminine instincts promptly overrode whatever other ideas she may have had in favor of the age-old fallback for dealing with multiple, larger, testosterone-doped opponents.

It was amazing how fast a six-year-old and a twelve-year-old could run when their purity was in danger. Almost as amazing as the lung-capacity Wendy had to possess in order to scream that loudly while maintaining such a fast pace through the underbrush.

Loud thumping and aggravatingly stupid laughter heralded the chase as the two girls tore madly through the woods, trying to shake off the giant monkey creatures. _Where's backup when you need it? Seriously, why did Fairy Tail Luck have to kick in like_ ** _this_** _? Somebody help!_

Rihanna could forever declare it unfair that of the two of them, it was the girl with the bare feet who tripped on a tree root and fell, not the girl still wearing ridiculously high heels. She hit the ground with a thud and a rush of lost air, hands scrabbling for purchase as her instincts screeched at her to get up and keep running. Wendy screamed her name and Rihanna barely had time to process the feeling of heavy breathing against her back when a familiar static sensation rippled protectively across her skin.

Thunder clapped a half-second later, strong arms snatching her up and away from the source of the heavy breathing while the air was filled with howls of pain and the combined stench of ozone and fried monkey. The screaming and crackling continued for several more seconds before the lightning stopped and massive thuds heralded the fall of her pursuers to the ground. Rihanna tentatively opened her eyes and looked up at the person who had snatched her to safety.

Grey eyes looked down at her in something akin to baffled amusement, the lightning-shaped scar on the right side of his face crinkling slightly as he gave her a puzzled half-smile, " _Imōto_?"

Rihanna gaped, as a dozen different emotions and reactions flashed through her mind, _Laxus? He's here? Why is he here? Isn't he banished? Laxus did stay in the woods outside Magnolia for a while in the anime but that was after the Tenrōjima Arc. Or was it? Does this mean he's not banished? Or is he still banished and just passing through? Wait. Did he just call me Little Sister?_ Her hands came up shakily to sign her questions when a familiar shock and tugging sensation ran through her body and her world was enveloped with light.

A moment later Rihanna thudded to the ground with a surprised "oof". Sitting up hastily, Rihanna looked around. There was no sign of what had just happened. No giant mutant pervert monkeys, no twelve-year-old Wendy, no adult-Laxus staring down at her with a bemused expression. She was alone. _Did … did the spell wear off on its own? Am I back?_

Standing up, Rihanna spun in a slow circle, trying to get her bearings. After concluding that she really was in the same section of woods as before, just all alone instead of with Wendy and adult-Laxus, Rihanna reached out to the shadows, scanning quickly for anything familiar to her before she gave a cautious pull.

Her magic gave a customary twist, there was a rush of cold, and then she was standing on the edge of the forest, the outskirts of Magnolia right in front of her as the evening sun dyed it a variety of rich colors. _Is it really that late?_ Still unsure as to whether she was truly back in her own time, Rihanna slipped into shadow form and made her way back toward the guild building.

When she finally rounded the last corner and came into view of the guild, Rihanna felt something in her chest unwind. The guild building was the one she knew from experience, old wood that had been patched and painted a hundred times over, with equally old yet well-loved flags flapping in the breeze. _I'm back._ She dropped out of shadow form and jogged through the open guild doors, more than ready for the normalcy of her time's guild.

Instead, she was met with a chaos that gave her a distinct impression of deja vu.

Maps were spread out on tables and everyone seemed to be shouting at everyone else. Freed and Evergreen huddled by the bar, watching the cacophony with wide eyes while Bickslow and Cana butted heads shouting and Mest tried vainly to separate them.

Laxus shouldered his way through the crowds to slam a fist down Bickslow's and Cana's heads, a yellow aura beginning to curl around him dangerously as he snarled, "That's enough you two! We have no time for your fighting! We have to find Wren!"

 _How long have I been gone?_ Rihanna stuck her head out the door to double-check. _Oh wow, it's later than I thought. No wonder they're worried._ Straightening up, Rihanna made her way a little further into the building, took a deep breath, and then gave a shrill whistle.

Everyone froze, all noise ceased, and every gaze snapped in her direction. Rihanna, suddenly nervous under so much united scrutiny, could only manage a tiny wave of greeting. Her motion unfroze everyone and the guild crowded around her. The _Raijinshū_ , even Freed and Evergreen, somehow managed to get there first and Rihanna found herself being crushed in the center of a frantic group hug while Bickslow lectured in her ear about "never letting his _Imōto_ out of his sight again" and "what did she think she was doing, disappearing without a word for so long".

It occurred to her somewhere during Bickslow's tirade that her adult self must have kept hidden during the switch, which was probably a mercy, but it also left her scrambling for an excuse. Just as everyone started to calm down and Rihanna thought she had come up with a decent excuse that did not involve accidental time-travel, Laxus pulled away from the hug and gave her a long look over. His face darkened and static prickled the air as he asked with deceptive calm, " _Imōto_ , what are you wearing and where are the clothes you were wearing this morning?"

The silence returned and the tension went up several dozen notches. It went up several hundred more when one of the adults in the back hissed, "Is that a **Lolita** dress?"

Bickslow scowled and his tikis chattered angrily as he demanded, "What's a Lolita dress? Where are your shoes? **What happened to you**?"

Rihanna looked down at what she was wearing, having somehow forgotten in the mad flight from the giant mutant monkeys and her later return to her proper time that she was still wearing the outfit the future Fairy Tail ladies had forced her into. She had dropped the heels at some point in her dash, so all she had on her feet were a pair of thin stockings with holes in the bottoms from the rough woodland terrain. Both stockings and dress were slightly damp, torn, and generally looked as if she had gotten more than her fair share of Fairy Tail Luck that day.

 _Well, snap. How am I going to explain_ ** _this_** _?_

.

.

As it turned out, she didn't. At least, not anything the others believed until ten years later when she marched back to the guild hall one fine autumn day holding a pair of children's high heels and with Wendy in tow, smiling a devilish sort of smile that had all the perpetrators of her childhood embarrassment -and just general traitors like Freed and Bickslow- running for the hills while begging for mercy.

Not that either did any good. She'd had ten years to plot her justified revenge after all.

.

* * *

 **And there you go. A sneak peak to the future of the story and the first one-shot in my Amongst Untrodden Ways collection! Hope you enjoyed!**


	2. Chapter 2 - Dragon's Oath

**Alert! This is a companion piece to the main story to be read after chapter 30. DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE READ CHAPTER 30 OF AMONGST UNTRODDEN WAYS OR YOU WILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON. Plus, you will have spoilers. So just ... go back and read chapter 30: Retribution real quick then come back and read this. Trust me, it will make so much more sense if you do.**

 **Review Response: Dear Natzed202, greetings! So happy you think so! I hope you enjoy this as well!**

 **Dear Dragon Lord Draco, hello there! Glad you enjoyed it so much! That will be all of the future sneak peaks for a while, but hopefully this chapter will be enjoyable as well.**

 **Dear WolfGirl1, hey there! Yep. Wren can be very patient when it comes to revenge and there was no sense in punishing their past selves because they'd have no idea why. Better to let them know and regret while she extracts vengeance, ne?**

 **Dear YumiKnowsBest, hi! I'm planning on referencing it in a later chapter (if I remember that far down the line). Hmm, you have offered a very good suggestion and an interesting reason to do so, but I'm afraid you'll just have to wait and see what I have planned for that arc and beyond.**

 **Dear skyfir, hello! Heh, heh, whoops? Though really, I'm proud I got you to laugh that hard. So long as you didn't hurt yourself in the process of course.**

 **Dear** **Mandyne, greetings! I aim to please! The Laxus mystery will have to wait, but hopefully the newest chapter will be just as interesting.**

 **Dear EmberFlame03, hi there! Thrilled to hear it! I hope you enjoy the update as well!**

 **Dear BlackDove WhiteDove, hello! (chuckles) There were serious repercussions for the dress-up incident, believe me. Pantherlily is the ultimate cuteness (next to Mavis and Zeref anyway). So glad you liked it!**

 **Dear Draconicflare, hi! A girl can hope can't she? Of course it's Natsu's fault. When is it ever not, in some way, Natsu's fault? Oh, how's your enjoying the anime so far? It is connected a bit to her nightmares, but he also said that because back when Wren first arrived in Earthland, she used to have panic attacks over being in a fictional world. Bickslow never knew what triggered the seemingly random moments of hysteria, but after learning about her 'Seer Magic' he assumed it had something to do with that. So he's trying to cover his bases about whatever is triggering her hyperventilation. I couldn't do a one-shot in the future and NOT have Natsu/Gray rivalry. They're just too classic. Oh yeah, that's going to be a interesting moment to cover (cackles). Hibernate is a good word for it, he does not get enough screen time. Sweet for Wren, yes, but very, very traumatizing to everyone else. They will FEAR (maniac laughter fades into the distance).**

 **Author's Note: So, just a reminder, DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE READ THE LATEST CHAPTER OF AMONGST UNTRODDEN WAYS. It will be called Chapter Thirty: Retribution in the little chapter skip/dropbox thing, so make sure to read that before reading this. Yeah. So anyway, really short one-shot here to go with a really short chapter, but I just didn't feel like I should combine the two, so here they are as partner chapters. I hope you enjoy it! Also, kinda random, but if anyone want's to see what Wren looks like as an adult (in my head anyway) look up pictures of Taylor Swift with curly hair. Now imagine her with hazel eyes and no makeup. That's as close to a picture of Wren as I can get unless I magically acquire actual drawing skills...**

 **Copyright Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any references made in this story. The only things I own are my OCs who have run off with my plot.**

* * *

 **Dragon's Oath**

 **(Set During Chapters 28 through 30)**

.

Laxus had been uneasy for the past few days. The energy he'd usually had for his birthday was nowhere to be found and no matter what _Jiji_ thought, his lack of enthusiasm wasn't because he was afraid of Freed and Evergreen going into a shopping frenzy or starting one of their rants of devotion. Even though the rants and near-worshipping devotion **were** beyond unnerving.

He was worried about his father.

His father always came back to the guild to celebrate Laxus's birthday. Always. No matter what missions he had or how far he had to travel to get back in time, his father always made a point to come back on his birthday. They didn't even spar on his birthdays. Instead, Ivan would take him to a restaurant after the official party and give Laxus the present that he had picked out during his travels in private.

It was one of the reasons Laxus had been so sure that his father loved him despite how painful their spars were. It was one of the things that he had hung his faith on until Wren and Bickslow had blown into his life and reacted so **violently** to their sparring. Until Wren had scared off his father —the man Laxus had always seen as immovable and all-powerful and fearless— and Laxus had found himself surrounded on all sides by constant devotion and care and laughter. The _Raijinshū_ treated him like his father did on his birthday only **all the time** and a small part of his mind had begun to wonder if that was what a real family was like, what real love was like.

It was so … warm. Warm enough that he had actually forgotten about his birthday until _Jiji_ had asked if his wishlist was ready to turn in and Laxus had remembered that his father would be coming back in a matter of days.

And Wren had made it very clear that she would **literally** dismember Ivan if his father touched Laxus again.

Laxus hadn't known what to do. He couldn't skip out on the party, _Jiji_ would throw a fit. He couldn't avoid his father, because that would get his father's attention —or worse, insult him to the point that he rescinded the no-spars-on-birthdays rule—. He had avoided the problem for as long as he dared, not bringing the _Raijinshū_ down to the guild for several days until he glumly realized that he had to go help with the party or _Jiji_ would go to the lighthouse and ruin any chances he had of keeping his birthday and Ivan's impending arrival a secret.

Laxus had decided to keep the _Raijinshū_ as busy as possible with the party preparations to keep them from hearing about his father's habit of visiting. Then, on the actual day of the party, Laxus had planned to wait until the _Raijinshū_ were busy celebrating and playing with everyone else and then sneak off to meet his father at the train station. He would tell his father that he wanted to spend the whole day with him instead of just having a private after-party dinner and then keep his father busy and away from the guild for the rest of the day.

After his father went back to the mansion to get some sleep, Laxus would return to the guild hall and take the _Raijinshū_ home to the lighthouse. His father usually left early the morning after the party, so by the time the _Raijinshū_ went down to the guild hall to pick up a job, his father would have left and no one would be any the wiser.

It wasn't the best plan. Fairy Tail Luck would surely swoop in and make things more complicated but Laxus had thought he could pull it off. Had thought he could protect both sides of his life from the other. Maintain both the tradition he had with his father and the cheerful, crazy warmth that he had grown so fond of with the _Raijinshū_.

Then Evergreen had come running into the guild, screaming about Magic Hunters and Mest trying to hold them off and the _Raijinshū_ being in danger and in the space of minutes, Laxus's whole world had come crashing down around his ears.

The guild had gathered in the alley, furious and dangerous and ready to protect their own … but then the threat had been **one of the them**. Laxus had stared from his position slightly behind the front row, unable to understand it. Wren and Bickslow were handcuffed and hurt. He could see the blood on Wren's leg, the bruises on Bickslow's face, the way Bickslow's breath hitched every time he inhaled, as if something was wrong with his ribs. Freed was there, terrified and subconsciously cradling the side of his face just beneath the eye that Porlyusica-san had replaced as he cried. Mest was there too, battered and cut in a thousand tiny places in a way that was so heart-wrenchingly familiar … except for the shallow cut along his neck, a hairs-breadth from his jugular.

The dragon in him stirred, snarling and hissing at the damage done to his Treasures, at the scent of fear and hate and killing intent directed at those that were **his**. He wanted to punch the threat, hurt it, destroy it.

But the only man standing in the alley was his father.

Laxus had stared and struggled, but no matter how hard he tried it didn't … it didn't fit. His father wouldn't hurt the _Raijinshū_ like that, he wouldn't. He knew that Wren and Bickslow were part of the _Raijinshū_ , part of Laxus's team. Mest was a fellow guild member, Freed was just a kid. Evergreen had said that the others were being attacked by **Magic Hunters** but Ivan was a member of **Fairy Tail**. He wasn't a Magic Hunter. He wouldn't hurt the _Raijinshū_ , he wouldn't try to kill fellow Fairy Tail members.

Surely his father had just arrived in town a few days early and happened to come across the trouble. Surely his father had been defending the _Raijinshū_ from the unconscious thugs Laxus could see in the alley, surely…

But then _Jiji_ had stepped forward —his magic rolling off of him in powerful glowing waves of pressure— and raged at Ivan, accused him of betrayal, of trying to kill Mest, of making the _Raijinshū_ cry. Laxus felt anger on his father's behalf bubble under his skin-

Then his father straightened up and snarled, "Betrayed? I am doing what is necessary!" _Wait … what?_ Laxus felt everything still, even his inner-dragon fell into a stunned, confused silence. "They are a plague on this guild!"

 _Who are you talking about?_ He couldn't be talking about the _Raijinshū_. Not Laxus's _Raijinshū_. His team, his friends, his bond-siblings, his **Treasures**. "A plague to my son!"

He was. How could he? How could he be talking about them that way? Surely he didn't mean it, surely he wasn't saying what Laxus thought he was saying. His inner-dragon stirred and a growl sounded in the back of his mind, growing rapidly louder and deeper because how dare he? How dare he say that? Imply that? _No,_ Laxus protested mentally, _he doesn't mean it like that, he can't-_ "I will not let your soft-heartedness for strays ruin Laxus's future!"

But he did. Laxus had heard his father talk about preserving Laxus's future before, had had things taken away because his father thought them detrimental. Certain toys and books, his budding friendships with the non-magical children of Magnolia. He had stolen things from Laxus before and Laxus had always let him because Ivan was his **father** and surely he knew best-

 ** _My Treasures_** _._ His inner-dragon snarled and lightning yellow tinted his vision as Laxus's thoughts blurred and meshed and whirled until he became unable able to tell where the dragon's instincts ended and his own thoughts began. **_My Treasures! Mine! Thief near my Treasures how dare you, how dare you, yo_** _u can't, you couldn't have tried to take them,_ ** _they're mine_** _and surely you know that, you wouldn't_ ** _steal them thief thief thief you dare-_** _no stop, shut up-shut-up it isn't true_ ** _you tried to hurt them, tried to steal my Treasures, to steal what's mine-_**

Ivan's words pierced the haze, "You would not remove them, so I had t-" **_Treasures-MY-TREASURES-STAY-AWAY-FROM-WHAT'S-MINE!_**

Laxus lunged at the threat, rage and hate and pain ripping from his throat as the dragon shrieked. He pinned the threat to the ground and lightning surged from his skin, ready to destroy. Laxus began to maul the threat with his bare claws instead because the threat was a thief, the threat was a **traitor** and traitors deserved to **suffer first** before they died-

A huge hand wrapped around him, pulling him away from the prey-thief-traitor and Laxus struggled with a shriek of rage. The hand refused to let go even as he channeled lightning through it. He heard someone —someone he knew? Someone he trusted. Someone part of the High Pack— yell something at him, but Laxus didn't listen. He didn't have time to listen. Didn't they understand that there was a thief-traitor **right there** and Laxus needed to punish him, rip him apart and make him scream his regrets for his sins before he died?

Words spilled from his throat as he howled in frustration, "Thief! Traitor! **Traitor**! **Stay away from what's mine! I'll kill you for trying to steal them do you hear me? I'LL KILL YOU!** " It wasn't a threat, it wasn't even a promise. It was a guarantee, an Oath of blood and rage and hurt. An Oath made not by mere human words, but by the magic of a dragon who had been betrayed. A roar of lightning that ripped from his jaws, a seal to the Oath even though the hand restraining him caused him to miss his target. It didn't matter that it missed, it didn't matter when a sleep spell swept through him and smothered his magic core and senses.

He was passed from the huge hand to a waiting shoulder and the dragon began to relax as it recognized the scent of _soothing-sensible-amusing-Flicker-Space_. He was quickly surrounded by the injured and tired but wonderfully alive scents of _silly-fierce-loyal-Clear-Sight_ , _shy-steadfast-devoted-Word-of-Sight_ , and _dangerous-old-protective-Abyss-Eyes_.

As the thief-traitor was punished by _old-loving-Alpha-Giant_ and taken away, the dragon finally retreated. It slowly untangled itself from the jumbled mesh of what-was-dragon and what-was-Laxus-Dreyar and slid back into the realm of the subconscious. There was no need for it to be in the forefront anymore.

But it would remain. It would stay in the background, remembering that day, remembering that moment. A Dragon's Oath had been sworn and it had been sealed with magic. The dragon growled low as it receded into the very back of Laxus's mind, watching distantly as the thief-traitor was dragged away, silenced by the death threat of _old-loving-Alpha-Giant_. It could not fulfill the Oath right now, not suppressed by _old-loving-Alpha-Giant's_ sleep spell and in defiance of the High Pack Alpha's direct orders. But a dragon never forgot its Oaths and there would be time to hunt down the thief-traitor again. There would be a later.

The dragon could wait.


	3. Chapter 3 - Vacation Canceled

**Here we go! Another entry for Detours!**

 **Review Response: Dear Dragon Lord Draco, hi! So glad you approve! I have a LOT of head canons about dragons in general, so I couldn't resist adding some of them in (the merged thoughts of Laxus and his inner-dragon was arguably the best part).**

 **Dear snowleopard314, hello there! Happy to hear it! Well, an argument can be made that all magic is ruled by emotions, but it really does seem even more obvious with dragon slayers doesn't it? Because Natsu really is a bit ... silly until something he loves is threatened, then suddenly he's all death and fury.**

 **Dear Some Random Dude, greetings! Happy you enjoyed and, as requested, here is another one-shot! Hope you like this one too!**

 **Dear RedWolf Lover, hey there! Oh, the inner-dragon thing will definitely be making more appearances. Both Laxus and the other Dragon Slayers (because dragons are the best and dragon mentalities are too much fun to play with). Well, his inner-dragon has been there ever since Ivan implanted the lacrima inside him, but Laxus has never had something he personally cared about (beyond general 'part of the guild' care) enough to really tap into its power and, inevitably, its mentality. Glad I conveyed it well though.**

 **Dear EmberFlame03, heya! Happy to hear it! (cackles) I have plans for Ivan's future. Very painful plans...**

 **Dear thatgirl221b, hello! (tips hat) and you're now speechless, my work here is clearly done. Hope you enjoy the next one!**

 **Dear Asuka1920, greetings! Thank you for your patience, hope this update is worth the wait!**

 **Dear Guest, hi! No ... no, Marco is definitely not going to be a Gajeel fan (at least not at first). There will definitely be death glare contests between the Phoenix and the Iron Dragon in the future, especially over Levy.**

 **Dear masimagine, hello there! Glad to hear it, I worked hard on Wren's character! (tips hat) I try. Enjoy the update!**

 **Author's Note: Alrighty then! Since several of you lovely reviewers requested that I show what was going on with the rest of the guild just before and during the events of Chapter 35: True Identity, I briefly diverted from working on the next chapter of AUW to instead post this little one-shot for you all. I hope everyone enjoys it, Makarov is a surprisingly tricky POV to write. Don't worry about the next chapter of AUW, I've almost finished it, so once I do that and edit it, I'll be able to post it. Also, in case some of you don't know yet, I recently posted a My Hero Academia story with some KHR flavoring in it, so if you enjoy MHA, please check it out!**

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 **.**

 **Vacation Canceled**

 **(Set during Chapter 35: True Identity)**

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Vacation had been going well. Better than it usually did even. Everyone had arrived on time, the train had not suffered anything more than interior paint scratches, and Twin Crow Resort's beaches were as lovely as ever —even if the water was far too chilly for Makarov's tastes—. Furthermore, he had called Edward —as fellow old men and fathers, they had agreed to stick to first names outside formal situations— on the way there, and the man had managed to find a cove large enough to dock his ship the _Moby Dick_ , so now Makarov could both enjoy watching the vast majority of his children play and also have backup for when they inevitably got drunk or started fighting.

After five days of snarling, spitting, passive-aggressive behavior, and Laxus scaring everyone half-to-death with his midnight patrols through the resort, the _Raijinshū_ had even settled down enough to enjoy themselves. Though honestly, if he'd known they'd react **that** badly, Makarov would have let Wren come along and be done with it.

Yes, there had been some inevitable property damage —Haruta nearly flattened the wall between the girls and boys hot springs in her rage after catching Macao and Thatch peaking—, and drunk shenanigans —it was a very good thing Wren was not there that time, or there would have been hell to pay for her siblings' accidental hangovers— but that was all to be expected for any Fairy Tail group activity. Considering how many of them there were in one place, Makarov had honestly been braced for a lot worse.

Which was why he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Fairy Tail vacations —especially ones with new members— **never** went this smoothly. Never. Not in all of Makarov's years as Master —or even before, during Precht's reign— had a vacation with this many new members gone so smoothly. And Makarov knew that the longer it did go smoothly, the more outrageous the incoming bout of Fairy Tail Luck was going to be.

Now they were three and a half days away from the end of the vacation, with no sign of a real bout of Fairy Tail Luck in sight and Makarov was secretly ready to pull his hair out. Or bundle up the youngest of his children and hide them somewhere. Or both.

"You've been looking increasingly paranoid these past few days." The dry observation had Makarov looking up —and up and up— from his drink to Edward, who was stretched out in a beach chair a size and a half too small to be comfortable, watching their children get far too competitive over building sand-castles, "Are you expecting trouble?"

Makarov humphed and tugged at his mustache agitatedly, "Yes. I already explained Fairy Tail Luck to you?"

Edward gave a low rumble of dry amusement, "You did. I wouldn't have believed you, but I have stumbled across more 'adventures' these past months in your guild than I ever did traveling with Rodger, and he actively went **looking** for trouble."

"And have you and your children ever gone more than a few days without some form of unexpected adventure since joining us? And if you did, was not the adventure greater than the previous ones?"

Edward paused in the middle of taking a sip of his own drink. He rolled Makarov's words over in his head, seemed to poke the implications a few times, then lowered his drink slowly to the small table set up between them, "Ah." A fervent curse hung unspoken between them, held back solely by years of habitual refraining for the sake of impressionable young ears.

Makarov nodded firmly, "Ah."

Edward sat up in his chair and visibly performed a headcount —Makarov didn't bother with it, he had learned long ago how to subconsciously track his children's magic signatures within a certain radius of his person and the beach and resort building were well within his range—, "How bad does it get after this long?"

"With this many of us here? I am expecting a war." Makarov was not joking. He'd been eighteen the last time this many Fairy Tail members were gathered in one place for upward of a week without any significant bouts of Fairy Tail Luck happening every other day. He had thought Master Precht was completely overreacting in setting up defenses and carving extra protection runes into the foundation of the guild building.

And then Magnolia had been invaded by a horde of angry fishmen who had held aspirations of enslaving humanity … or avenging the invention of sushi, it depended on which Fairy you asked after the fact and Makarov had been too busy trying not to get eaten by an anthropomorphic killer whale during the battle to find out for himself.

Either way, Makarov had never mocked Master Precht for getting twitchy after a week of no Fairy Tail Luck ever again.

Edward gave a low, unhappy noise, "Any idea on where or how it will strike?"

Makarov shook his head, "Not really. But since everyone is here…" he paused and thought very long and hard about what he had just said. Because everyone was **not** here. Not counting Gildarts —who almost never came on guild vacations anyway— Wakaba and little Wren were back in Magnolia, waiting for the guild to return. The only two Fairies in the entire town until the guild loaded up onto the train —or their ship— a few days from now and bustled home, relaxed and invigorated from their peaceful vacation.

Fairy Tail Luck tended to follow Fairies around, not lie in wait for them at certain locations, which was why Makarov had been growing more and more agitated waiting for Fairy Tail Luck to come to them rather than the other way around. But if there were Fairy Tail members unaccounted for in the location that the entirety of the guild would be returning to after so long without any kind of disaster happening…

Makarov swore and leaped off his chair, "Get everyone rounded up, we need to start packing."

Edward heaved himself out of his too-small chair and clapped his hands together to get the attention of the rest of the guild, not questioning what was going through his fellow father's head, just trusting that it was for the good of their shared brood to put up with all of the complaints that came from ending their vacation early. The older Fairy Tail members didn't question Makarov's abrupt cancelation of the vacation, they were well acquainted with how the guild Luck worked and were already too twitchy over the lack of recent catastrophes to complain.

Any doubts Makarov might have had that he was being too paranoid died late that evening when the _Raijinshū_ suddenly became violently crabby and agitated for no apparent reason. Throwing a tantrum that was complete with screaming tiki dolls, menacingly shuffled tarot card decks, random protection runes being carved in the air, several innocent birds being turned into startled statues and Mest trying to pull his hair out in an effort to stay level-headed. To top it all off, his grandson stalked through the building with his teeth bared, lightning and magic aura rolling off of his shoulders and a disturbingly feral growl rumbling in his chest.

None of them could explain why they were acting so strangely all of a sudden. The closest thing to an answer Makarov had gotten was from his half-feral grandchild —he would **never** have let Ivan give Laxus that lacrima if he'd known how much it could effect the boy's mental state— who had stopped long enough to snarl something that sounded vaguely like Wren's name before he resumed prowling the halls and terrifying the rest of the guild.

Makarov quietly cursed the fact that they had already missed the last train to Magnolia that day and that it was too dark by the time everyone was done packing to maneuver Edward's ship out of its cove and sail there. Fairy Tail Luck was clearly beginning its long overdue activity and Makarov was in the exact wrong place to deal with it. He could only hope that Wakaba would keep Wren from getting in over her head…

Oh, who was he kidding? Wren —so little, yet already far too old and mature and recklessly protective for her own good— obeyed exactly three people in the guild when it came to doing things she didn't want to do and one of those people was a misanthropic forest hermit who never went into town of her own accord while the other two were too far away to do anything about it. The best Wakaba would be able to do was try to keep up when Wren decided to dive into whatever chaos was happening.

Morning did not bring any relief, as Fairy Tail Luck had decided to double back and have a go at them by delaying the train via a random band of rogue Vulcans tearing up a mile's worth of tracks a few miles from their station. Normally, his children would have gleefully trekked out and dealt with the annoying vagrants, but by that point, the _Raijinshū's_ agitation had infected the rest of the guild and none of them were willing to wait for the train tracks to be repaired or the train diverted to the nearest station.

They doubled back to the _Moby Dick's_ cove just in time to pile aboard alongside Edward's half of the brood and set off at top sailing speed for Magnolia. But Luck struck again as the winds which had just yesterday been blowing steadily in Magnolia's direction now blew against their course, forcing young Haruta to artificially bend the air currents in the direction they wanted to go to make any headway. Freed and Levy managed to help speed their progress by each climbing up a mast —without permission and with a frantic phoenix swooping to the rescue the moment they were spotted— and etching runes and letters for "high winds" onto the sails —which nearly led to the masts being blown off from the sheer force of the ensuing wind, but the effort was appreciated—.

It was late morning to early afternoon —after several hours of increasingly tense silence— when Makarov heard Cana shriek halfway across the deck, "Who are you and how do you have that card? That's Wren's card!"

Makarov looked up from his efforts to call up his contacts in Magnolia in time to see Laxus snatch the card Cana had been screaming at from her hand and snarled thunderously at it, " **Who are you and what have you done with my sister**?"

Makarov exchanged a glance with Edward and hurried over to see what was happening —and save the poor card from being ripped to shreds by the sheer amount of pressure with which Laxus was gripping it—. As they approached, Makarov heard an unfamiliar voice —teenager, young, terrified out of his mind— stammer out from the card, "M-m-my name i-is _Dorobo_ \- I m-mean- Doronbo, I-I need t-to speak w-w-with M-master Mak- M-master Maka-, I-I n-n-need-"

Laxus's lips had curled into a snarl —revealing teeth far too fang-like, curse Ivan's lacrima—, and Makarov snatched the card out of his grandson's hands before the boy could do anything stupid. Turning his focus to the card, Makarov spoke in a deceptively pleasant, calm voice, "Yo. This is Master Makarov, may I ask how you got this card, Doronbo-kun?" _Because if you hurt Wren to do it…_

Whether he heard the unspoken threat or was just already terrified, it took Doronbo several minutes of incoherent stammering and sobbing before Makarov —hiding his growing worry and agitation with years of experience— managed to soothe the boy into a speech-capable state.

"M-my name is Doronbo. My f-friends and I got off the train yesterday. The kid- sorry, sorry, his name is Gray, wanted to join your guild, had his heart set on it for as long as I've known him. Which isn't very long, b-but still… Anyway, we met W-wren-chan while searching for the guild building a-and she showed us around town and told us the rest of the g-guild was out. She was r-really nice-"

" **Was?** " It was a one-word death threat that came from the throats of an impressively synchronized _Raijinshū_. Even Freed-kun and Evergreen-chan were now beaming death glares at the card. Makarov sent them an impatient glance which had Edward shush them with the quiet threat of removing them from the conversation if they didn't stay silent.

A frightened "eep" emitted from the card before Doronbo-kun hastened to add, "E-eh, she's o-okay! … M-mostly."

Bickslow opened his mouth, but Laxus slapped a hand over it, glowing yellow eyes watching the card with a predatory focus that Makarov found very disturbing. He set that matter to one side for the moment, "Explain."

"W-well, she took us to lunch, but then Pauz-kun disappeared and Gray ran off to l-look for him and Wren-chan h-helped us search, but we couldn't find him before night f-fell, and we were out of money to s-stay at a hotel, so W-wren-chan invited us to stay at her place for the night. The old man didn't like it, but she got her way, and we were heading for her house w-when… when we were ambushed."

Makarov took a deep breath and threw a stern silencing look at the large crowd that had gathered around the card during Doronbo's story, "Who ambushed you?"

"The old- sorry, Wakaba-san, called them Circus Night, and they didn't correct him. There were three of them. They trapped each of us in some kind of … exploding balloon. Wren-chan tried to fight them, b-but she got caught like the rest of us. T-they blew up Wakaba-san's balloon to knock him out, and were talking about what to do with the rest of us w-when Wren-chan's balloon suddenly exploded-"

Laxus hissed and abruptly spun on his heel, the crowd parted for him in an instant, and Makarov watched as his grandson screamed lightning over the side of the ship. The rest of the _Raijinshū_ looked just as upset. Cana was fiddling with her cards, Mest was holding on tight to the shoulders of the two newest members of Laxus's team, and Bickslow had to be moved to a different area of the ship entirely by Marco because of the volume of his tikis and curses. Doronbo-kun clearly heard the screaming and crack of thunder, because his voice trailed off with fearful squeak until Makarov prompted, "Go on, Doronbo-kun."

"W-well, we thought the worst, but before we could do … something … I don't know what, they blew up our balloons too and we passed out. We're in the hospital now, Gray is still unconscious. But Wren-chan showed up a f-few minutes ago, barely stopped to let the nurses bandage her injuries from the explosion, g-gave me this card and told me to call and explain everything I could and a-ask you to hurry back as soon as you can."

Laxus had returned to listen to the card, eyes narrowed, but seemingly calmer now. Calm enough to be verbally coherent anyway, "Where did Wren go while you were supposed to be calling us?"

Doronbo-kun sounded very quiet as he answered that question. Frightened for a different reason than his previous terror, "…Hunting."

Makarov closed his eyes in despair, allowing Edward to deal with the sudden flood of murmuring while Makarov tried to manage his impending headache. _Of course she did._ Wren sometimes took Fairy Loyalty far too seriously for her size and age. It was an admirable trait, but when it was that strong in a mere almost-seven-year-old, it could easily prove fatal. A memory of being hissed into stillness by a narrow-eyed little girl after he had made the grievous mistake of ignoring Laxus in favor of the guild on the whole just after the incident with Ivan rose to his mind and Makarov sighed heavily. A mind and a heart far too old and brave for her body, that one. He had no doubt that Circus Night was making a far bigger power play than just three members kidnapping Wakaba, and now Wren was certain to be right in the middle of it.

Though, for all her recklessness, she did have a cunning head on her shoulders, so he had to hope that she would only scout for Circus Night and not actively engage them. But then, she had called it hunting, which implied she intended to fight them. That was a bit reckless, even for her, and he had to wonder what had driven her to such measures when the _Raijinshū_ were with him, safe and sound.

He opened his eyes and addressed the card, "Thank you for calling us, Doronbo-kun. Is there anything else you can tell us about your attackers? Magic, appearance, location? Anything at all would help."

The silence on the other end of the card extended to the point Makarov wondered if the connection had somehow dropped. Then, "One of the guys who ambushed us … it was Pauz-kun. But I don't know why!" The anguish in Doronbo-kun's voice was very evident as he rushed to explain that Pauz-kun was a quiet, gentle-natured boy, that he was their —or more specifically, Gray's— friend and had proven to be loyal and good-hearted before. He rambled about how Pauz-kun had been oddly withdrawn that day, sneaking off little paper animals when he thought no-one was looking, and how Doronbo-kun just couldn't believe that Pauz-kun would attack Fairy Tail willingly.

"He knows that Gray want's to join your guild like crazy! He's Gray's best friend! He wouldn't- He wouldn't…."

There was a muffled noise on the other end that sounded distinctly like a sniffle and Makarov felt a bit of his heart go out to the boy, "How old is Pauz-kun, Doronbo-kun?"

"About nine, I think. He's close to Gray's age, I know that much." And there was probably Wren-chan's final reason for actively hunting Circus Night aside from Wakaba's capture. She was unashamedly the mother hen of the _Raijinshū_ despite her younger age, and her natural protectiveness of a fellow Fairy added to the protective attachment she had no doubt already grown to feel about the three boys she'd encountered would surely drive her to do something on her own rather than wait sensibly for backup.

"Is that everything, Doronbo-kun?"

"Well … I think I figured out a way to track down where Pauz-kun is … but I need Gray to be awake and moving for it to work…" More like the boy didn't want to leave his only remaining friend alone in the hospital, which was understandable. Makarov let the small lie slide just this once in favor of opportunity, "Indeed? Very good, Doronbo-kun. Cana," the girl looked up agitatedly from shuffling her cards, "can you track the location of one of these cards?"

Cana's eyes lit up, eager to do anything to help, "Yes! As long as the channel is open on that side, I can track its position anywhere from several miles to a few feet."

"Very good. Can you mute this side?"

"Sure."

Makarov nodded his thanks, then turned his attention back to the card, "Now, Doronbo-kun, here is what you're going to do. We are already on our way back to Magnolia, we'll be there in just a few hours. So, when Gray-kun wakes up, I want you to track down your friend, but **don't be spotted** by him or Circus Night. Just find out where they are staying. Take the card you have with you, keep its magic channel open, and stay in that general area of Pauz-kun. We will track the location of the card from this end and be there as soon as we can. But remember, **do not** try to fight them, just stay hidden until we arrive."

Doronbo-kun hemmed and hawed, "But … but Pauz…"

Makarov softened his tone, "Do this and I give you my word as Fairy Tail's Master that we will not harm your friend. Unless I miss my mark, I know why he's gotten involved in this mess, and it is **not** his fault. Now, can you do as I ask?"

"…okay. But you'd b-better keep your word."

"I always do."

Deal struck, Makarov had Cana mute their card —no need to get Doronbo-kun caught because of Fairy Tail's ruckus— and track the signal of the card Doronbo-kun had. It took them several more hours of hurried sailing, during which the _Raijinshū_ followed Laxus's lead in settling down from their hysteria into a much more disturbing, predatory calm that had Makarov mentally kicking himself —repeatedly— for letting Ivan even say the **words** "lacrima enhancement" —because clearly, Laxus's draconic mentality was rubbing off on his team—, before they reached the outskirts of Magnolia.

By that point, Makarov had finally managed to speak with his contacts inside the city and establish that while the entire guild of Circus Night was **somewhere** within the city limits, no one quite knew where, and they had not seeded the city with any lookouts —either overconfident or understaffed, possibly both considering Circus Night's recent misfortunes—.

Even so, Edward had his children land-dock their ship out of sight of the city and away from prying eyes. The guild split up and slipped into town in groups of threes and fives from different roads, each equipped with one of Cana's —bless that girl's creativity— Calling Cards to stay in touch. The divided numbers ensured that their reentrance would not garner unwarranted attention, but they would be in large enough groups —and in contact with the other groups— to avoid the possibility of being taken without the rest of the guild's notice as Wakaba had.

Of course, since Makarov had the muted original Calling Card in his pocket —set at a different rune channel from the other cards— he could still hear everything that was happening on Doronbo-kun's end. Including Doronbo-kun explaining the situation to his friend, their wild —loud— run through the town in pursuit of a little paper dog —clever boy, manipulating the associative property all magics contained to track down the only paper mage in the area—, and then their plan to smuggle Wakaba out of Circus Night's hideout **without waiting for backup**.

Makarov had experienced many nerve-wracking things in his life. But being forced to listen helplessly while an almost-seven-year-old, a nine-year-old, and a young teen plotted an assault on a guild that had already proven to have no qualms with nearly murdering children was by far one of the worst to date.

The guild reassembled under Makarov's most skilled un-noticeability illusion a block away from Circus Night's location. Just in time for Makarov to hear Doronbo-kun's and Gray-kun's plan go to Tartaros a la Fairy Tail Luck and reckless concern for a friend. He was glad that he had knew how to control the volume of a Calling Card so that only he could hear it in his pocket, or else the _Raijinshū_ would have no doubt forgone any attempt at stealth then and there in favor of knocking down the door. As it was, the entire guild was **very** unhappy and it was only Makarov's sheer magic power —and many, many, **many** years of forced practice, thank you Porlyusica— that kept the guild's magical pressure from being noticed as they all filtered in through the broken door and skulked their way up to the second floor to observe.

Edward remained outside with a frantic Doronbo-kun —nice boy, if incredibly skittish—, blocking the door with his sheer size since not even Makarov's mastered illusion would have kept Circus Night from noticing the wall getting blown in to make room for him. Makarov could see Wren hiding in the rafters, bandaged and so furiously intent on the enemy that she didn't notice them even when Marco and Bickslow climbed up to join her. He could not blame her for her anger though, watching the black-haired boy —Gray-kun, presumably— face off against Circus Night and Kafuchi —how far his friend had fallen, especially heartbreaking in that it had been entirely intentional on his friend's part— on behalf of the battered blond was enough to make his blood boil. Children should never suffer have to like that, never have to face off against an adult in order to defend a friend, a fellow child.

But he didn't interrupt —for now— and signaled his guild to do the same. While they would get a chance at justice for Wakaba —whom Doronbo-kun had reported had been successfully rescued by Wren—, there were rules all magic-wielders adhered to about grudge matches. Namely, not to interfere unless necessary. Gray-kun was fighting for a friend, even though that friend was the ward of an enemy, and on top of all the unspoken rules mages had about interfering with one-on-one fights on behalf of _nakama_ , the instability of that relationship —of having a friend who was trapped between allegiances, pulled two ways— had to be resolved quickly and sincerely or it never would. From experience, Makarov could honestly say that few places forced people to be sincere about their intents and desires and make the only decision they could bear to live with faster than a battlefield. Of course, it could also bring out the worst, most vindictive part of people, as it did with Kafuchi coldly declaring that since Pauz-kun would not obey him anymore, then he would die too.

But that was what comrades were for, and in this —and hopefully in troubles to come, because those boys needed a good home—, Fairy Tail were their allies. So when Kafuchi's face twisted with the threat of death and his magic began to rise, Makarov dispelled the illusion that had kept his guild's fury from being felt. Everyone on the floor below froze and it was fury and sadness —fury for Kafuchi's crimes, sadness at how far the once promising, silly mage had fallen and twisted— in equal measures that kept Makarov's voice soft and deathly calm, "I think that's quite enough."

For a moment, Makarov remembered who Kafuchi had been when they first met, and mourned that he had been unable to keep his once-friend from choosing the paths that led them to this point. Then he bottled up the remorse that might make him hesitate —something that could easily prove fatal for his children and the other innocents involved— and let his fury deepen his voice to a giant's thunder, **"You think you can put your hands on my family and get away with it? You think you can try to take my children hostage and WIN AGAINST US, KAFUCHI?"**

There was fear in Kafuchi's eyes as he spoke, realization —because Makarov had always been the fiercer of them, the stronger, and they both knew it—, "You-! How did you figure out where we-?"

It was his grandson that answered, something cold and dangerous in his voice as he called down, "Magnolia is **our** town. We know **everything** that happens here."

Makarov gave a grim smile of approval at Laxus's words —the boy had known better than to mention Doronbo-kun's involvement and made their guild look even more powerful and secure in the process—, "Naturally. And now, my children," he flung his arms out and gave the command they'd all been waiting impatiently for, **"it's time for you to run wild!"**

And so, chaos reined.

Makarov watched from above, content to observe his children rampage and unleash vengeance upon the guild that thought it could harm one of their own. He didn't intervene until Kafuchi revealed the true depths of his fall by turning illegal, killing-orientated magic on his own guild and little Wren risked herself to save Pauz-kun while Gray-kun threw himself into battle against a guild master for the sake of a friend. The magic Gray-kun displayed was powerful, his will to succeed against a greater opponent even more so, and Makarov was almost sad that he had to intervene —but not that sad, because the boy was exhausted and hurt and Makarov very much wanted to personally educate Kafuchi about why he shouldn't have hurt **Makarov's children** —.

But in the end, Gray-kun passed out from his injuries and his magical exhaustion and Makarov stepped into battle in the boy's place. Makarov sent his children away —along with Pauz-kun, Gray-kun, and Doronbo-kun, they did not need to see this— so that he could truly unleash his wrath upon the other guild master who had dared trespass upon Makarov's hometown and try to harm his children. His former friendship with Kafuchi did not stay his wrath, not when there was so much pain and betrayal to make up for. From the blood on Wren's bandages and Wakaba's capture to the beating of a child —that Kafuchi had raised, that Kafuchi should have **loved** — to the pain of another boy who had almost lost one of the few things he had left in the world. Oh yes, Kafuchi had **much** to answer for.

And Makarov would ensure that each of those answers would be paid for in full.

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	4. Chapter 4: Fairy Tail Comes

**Author's Note: Okay, so... I honestly don't know if I've responded to everybody since the last chapter? I think I have but I don't actually know because my inbox is a mess and my brain is arguably worse so I'm just gonna ... assume I have? So if I missed your review, I'm sorry, it's not intentional, I'll catch the next one, I promise. Moving on, this is a companion piece to Chapter 42 (43?): Walls Come Tumbling Down. You can read this before or after, but it will make more sense to read it after reading AUW. Everybody really wanted to see Newgate meeting the little people, and some people were expecting an epic boss fight against titans, so I decided to do both with this little number. Enjoy! Also, I have a tumblr now! Still figuring out what to do with it, but if you want to come check it out, the link is in my profile. I'll be mostly wandering from fandom to fandom, but I do intend to post snippets of my writing when I have time.**

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There were titans everywhere. Everyone was screaming and there was blood and Armin was so scared he felt like he couldn't breathe despite his gasping lungs. Everything was going so, so wrong so fast. First, they had been forced to abandon the plan when passing Trost because the titans had started forming both outside and **inside** the Walls and by this point Armin was so terrified he couldn't even remember what the plan had been in the first place. The Raijinshū —the team of magic-using giants who were his age or younger, weirdly enough— had scattered into smaller teams to fight off the titans spawning everywhere, but it seemed like the harder they fought, the more monsters formed.

Armin swerved away from a reaching hand with a breathless yelp, landed on a rooftop to get his bearings —where were Eren and Mikasa he didn't see them-where-were-they-?—, screamed as a malformed fist closed around his middle and yanked him off the rooftop. His arms were pinned to his sides and he couldn't swing away or attack and there was a titan's maw **right there** getting closer to bite him in half and he screamed for help he was already certain wouldn't come-.

Fire. Hot and bright and blue as the sky with winding flickers of gold that glowed like the sun at high noon. The titan holding him writhed and roared, but it's spasms never reached the fist clenched around his body because of the massive **bird talons** piercing through its wrist, cutting off any signals that might have come from the monster's primitive equivalent of a brain. Giant fingers went slack and Armin yipped as he fell for all of three feet before he slapped onto another palm. Armin scrabbled for his blades, or escape, or **anything** but his legs were woozy and his eyes were blurred —why had he ever been dumb enough to join the Survey Corps, he was only going to die or worse get one of his comrades killed trying to help him— and he didn't have air left to scream again as fingers curled around him.

"Easy, yoi," rumbled a voice above his head as he was pulled close to a chest rather than a maw and Armin's flailing brain somehow managed to latch onto the color and feel of purple fabric over everything else.

…Titans didn't wear purple shirts.

Wheezing, Armin looked up, sobbed a little at the gleaming, half-lidded gaze of the … giant —not titan, the one Corporal Levi had brought back had hated being called a titan— holding him close. The burning titan gurgled and lurched forward, the giant didn't even look away from Armin as one leg lashed out, transforming into a flaming bird talon along the way to skewer the titan's nape and destroy it. The man shuddered a bit as he shook his talons clean, perfectly balanced on one leg despite his grimace, "These things are so **gross** , yoi."

The eyes refocused on him and Armin instinctively hunched away even when it meant pressing against the giant's chest. "Easy there, yoi," soothed the giant with a low trill that was more bird than human or giant or titan, "I'm not gonna hurt you. My name's Marco, I'm with the Fairy Tail guild. Are you one of the Survey Corps, yoi?"

 _He talks,_ whispered a stunned voice in Armin's head, _he talks and he's intelligent and he's with the other giants._ Armin tried to swallow his heart back into his ribcage as he stammered, "Y-yes. I'm A- I- Armin. My name is Armin."

The giant —Marco? He'd said his name was Marco— nodded, slow and calm, casually flinging out an arm that turned into pure fire —pure actual fire where flesh should have been how-how-how— to reduce another lurching titan to ash, "Are you hurt? You might want to stick with me, yoi. This place is getting … a bit crazy."

Armin was sore all over from being grabbed and he was still scared out of his mind, so by the time he herded his thoughts into a semblance of a response, Marco-san had taken his silence as an answer and gently slid him into the breast pocket of the purple shirt with barely a yip from Armin, "There we go," muttered the giant, "just hang out in there until everything settles down a bit, yoi. I don't want you getting hurt in this."

Armin could feel the words vibrate through his entire being this close, feel a massive heartbeat through the fabric that was so calm and slow compared to his —though that might have just been from the sheer size difference, like how the heart of the swallow he'd befriended as a child had always seemed to be racing—. "M-my friends," he finally managed to gasp even as he clung to the edge of the fabric and tried not to think about being in the pocket of a ten meter tall man who could turn into **fire** at will.

"We'll find 'em, yoi. What're their names?"

"E-eren. Eren and Mikasa. B-but there are others- my squad. We got separated-."

Another flash of heat as a titan died a screaming, burning death. Marco-san sounded utterly calm as he hummed, "Right. I'll tell the others." A flick of fingers and the man was holding a playing card just like the little giantess had —what had her name been, Wren, that was it— and Marco-san relayed a curt order for everyone to keep an eye out for the other Survey Corps members, particularly the ones named "Eren" and "Mikasa". Then an entire wave of small titans appeared and Armin ended up tumbling deeper into the pocket as Marco-san became a whirlwind of fire and action and a slightly freaked out mutter of, "Mavis, I **hate** these things, yoi. Gonna have nightmares for weeks."

There was a pause in the battle, Armin poked his head out at the sound of hysterical screaming and something that sounded like a frying pan hitting rocks but on a much larger scale. Both of them watched another giant hurtle by, demolishing titans with the brute force of his frying pan and screeching the entire way with enough volume to make Armin's ears ring. Marco sighed, "Hang on, kid, I gotta go rescue the moron. Thatch! Thatch, you nitwit use your **swords** , yoi!"

Armin buried his face in the fabric of the giant pocket and tried not to die of hysteria-born laughter —the terrors of humanity and possible end of all life as he knew it being fended off by a giant **frying pan** —.

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These … things were so many levels of disgusting and **wrong** Haruta wasn't even sure she had words to describe it. The **feel** of them against her magic senses were like rotten fish and the sticky-tack of blood on her skin, and that was when there were manageable levels of them. But the longer the fight went on —the more magic they were forced to use to defend the tiny fleeing people and themselves—, the more of these … titans there were and the worse the feeling became. Mavis it was like being on the set of a horror movie and Haruta wanted **out**. She flipped in the air, caught herself on a wind current, let the breeze sharpen down the length of her blade as she went for the napes. Five titans fell in bursts of steam, but immediately afterward six more little ones and two that were taller than Haruta all lumbered in to fill the gap.

…Yeah, no. She was getting out of street level, this was too crowded of a party for her tastes. A twist of will and magic and the wind snatched her up to the height of the taller rooftops, sword clenched tight in her hands as she prayed for someone to **hurry up** and shut down the magic circle creating these things. Because this was ridiculous. She and Marco had flown here with a few of the others to help out the Raijinshū with defending the town, but their presence only seemed to be making things worse.

She spun in the air, sword flashing for the nape of one of the big ones, swore as she had to dodge the grabby hands of the other before she could finish her attack, "Of all the-!"

What looked like threads of light burrowed into the stonework next to her shoulder and there was a faint noise of gears before three little blurs of green whipped by, slicing through the napes of the two biggest titans. As steam wafted into the air, Haruta took the chance to flit down and destroy the little ones before swooping back up to the rooftop level where the little people in green had landed, "Hey! You must be the- what'd Marco call you- the Survey Corps, right?"

The three little people were staring at her like she was some kind of unicorn or something, though the blond man with the stubble managed to give her a wheezy sort of affirmative. The woman of the group was jittering in place like she'd had too much coffee —or was just having far too much fun in this terrible situation— and squealed, "You- you're **flying**! You're actually flying oh-how-do-you-do-that-is-it-a-natural-adaption-or-."

The stubble blond slapped a hand over the woman's mouth, seemed to brace himself, "Thank you for the help, uh…"

Haruta shifted higher in the air to keep a lookout while she answered, "Haruta. Haruta of Fairy Tail. I'd say it's nice to meet you, but right now nothing is actually **nice** so…"

"Mike," replied the man slowly, "this is Hanji and Springer."

Haruta nodded to them, pointed a few streets down, "Right, talking later, titans over there. Gotta go!" She flew over the rooftops, sword at the ready, blinked in surprise when the three tiny people kept up with her on their strange steel cable contraptions. More than that, they were actually really good at fighting the monsters that were now popping randomly out of **buildings** —as if it wasn't hard enough to keep the innocents safe as it was—. A rumble of thunder made her snatch the three little people out of the air without warning and tuck them against her shirt as she backpedaled in the air just in time to avoid the lightning blast that ripped apart about five titans at once.

She set them down on a nearby roof, shaking her mildly stabbed hands —note to self, don't startle little people with sharp swords— as Laxus prowled into view, eyes glowing a furious gold and his aura wafting off him like smoke that attracted and killed titans at the same time. Following on Laxus's heels was Freed, his little rapier out and eye magic gleaming. Freed waved to Haruta, "Haruta-san! This situation is getting untenable-." A titan began to form at their feet, Haruta winced at the smell that wafted up with the steam when Laxus stomped on its neck with a lightning-enhanced foot, crushing the nape in an instant. Hanji-san seemed to be losing her mind over on the rooftop, squawking about their magic like she'd never seen the like before —maybe she hadn't, Haruta wouldn't want to use magic on an island full of magic-eating monsters either—.

Haruta nodded to Freed's statement as she spun in the air, looking for more targets, "I know. But it's not like we can stop, they'll just go after the little people!"

Freed was scribbling runes on the stones at his feet, "Perhaps if we ran away, our greater magic reserves would draw them away from the civilians? Give them time to hide?"

"But what about the titans that keep forming in the streets? Those will just go after the nearest source of magic, and if we're gone, that'll be the civilians-."

Any further discussion stopped when a sickening wave of **wrong** washed over them, so thick and powerful Haruta's hold on her wind magic slipped and she tumbled onto the tiny streets with a rattling thud. Laxus made a noise like he'd just been stabbed in the stomach and Freed pitched over gagging at the sensation of _wrong-wrong-wrong-_ that dragged their attention up and out toward the outskirts of the city, where the useless Wall still stood.

 _Mavis save us,_ flitted through the back of Haruta's mind under the screaming horror of seeing a skinless **face** peering at them from over the top of the wall.

Hanji-san's earlier chatter turned to horrified silence. Nobody moved for a very long moment, too busy staring and trying to process the sight —or just breathe past the horrid feeling it produced—. Then Mike whispered, grim and shaking, "Colossal Titan."

Like it was a signal, the skinless —ew-ew-ew— hands gripping the top of the wall tightened and the world shuddered with the boom of some kind of collision. It took a moment to realize what happened, but then the wall between the titan's hands cracked like glass and crumbled with a cacophonous roar. Haruta could physically feel the magic circle all around them bucking beneath her feet in the equivalent of agony as its own creation destabilized it further. The Colossal Titan shouldered its way into the city and Haruta was dimly aware that someone had started screaming.

She thought it might have been her.

Fire swooping overhead in the shape of feathers snapped her out of her screaming, but only just. She had enough time to register Marco dropping another tiny person on the roof with the other three before he was spinning into the air again, aiming straight for the massive monster with a shout of, "Get the little people out of here! I'll buy you time!"

 _Marco no-no-no-don't-go-near-it-_. Haruta scrambled to her feet, knuckles white on her sword hilt even as her training forced her to turn back to the little people instead of leaping into the air alongside Marco —she wouldn't be able to help anyway, she was suffocating from that thing's poisonous aura all the way over here, any closer and she'd pass out—, "We need to go! Now!" _Where's Izo when you need him why hasn't he come back yet its been years_ ** _we need you_** _-._

She registered Freed's cry of horrified denial too late to stop Laxus from hurtling into the sky as a bolt of lightning, making a straight line for the Colossal that was swinging slow, dangerously powerful limbs at Marco as her guild brother swooped around it and screeched challenges. Haruta cursed, "Laxus! Laxus get back here! **Laxus**!"

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If, by some miracle, any of them survived this, Mike knew he'd never forget this moment for the rest of his life. Honestly, no matter how soon his life ended after this point —be it the next two minutes or the next two decades—, he had a suspicion that the sight of a giant phoenix spinning around the head of a Colossal Titan while a **boy** the size of a building turning into **lightning** and rammed full speed into its chest with enough force to make it pause would haunt his last thoughts as he died.

He had never seen, or felt, or even **imagined** such power. The way the air shook and tasted like wind and ozone and titan steam. The way his skin buzzed under his clothes like he was seconds away from just peeling out of it and becoming skinless himself from the sheer, unspeakable **power**. Halfway across Trost, the Colossal paused in its swipes at the giant phoenix to swat at the boy with lightning for blood —Laxus, that was his name—. Neither of them seemed to be doing more than slowing the Colossal down. It was still lumbering slowly into the city, crushing buildings, debris, and other titans alike, but at least with the two giant harassing it at every turn it hadn't outright attacked yet.

He didn't think that would last long though. Haruta-san was dragging the boy with green hair to his feet and yelling at them to hurry and run away. There were flares going up all over Trost reporting similar decisions from the scattered teams of scouts. They needed to run. Trost was a lost cause and the people had been evacuated from the city by now —if that even helped anything, the titans were everywhere, seeping out of the pavement and crawling between the trees—. They needed to run before the Colossal caught up with them.

Of course, that was the moment it decided to stop trying to swat away the phoenix and Laxus-san and just try to **outrun them**.

 **In Mike's direction**.

 _This is how I die then,_ flitted through his mind even as Haruta-san screamed and tried to jump into the air only to falter when several smaller ones grabbed her ankles and pulled her down. The boy with green hair was hacking at them with his rapier, too busy to even register the tons upon tons of pure death bearing down with impossible speed for something of that size. Even if Mike had been able to move his limbs through his horror, he didn't think it would have mattered. It was too big and too fast —almost on top of them already almost-there-oh-mercy-too-close-too-close—. They were either already out of its way or they weren't.

The shadow of a massive, massive foot spread over his building and the seven closest around it and Mike pulled the rookies close to him in a futile effort to at least shield their eyes from the impending end. The phoenix over their heads was screaming a challenge and trying to draw it away with bright blasts of fire, Laxus-san was swatted aside by a flailing elbow as he tried to knock it off course. The shadow grew larger as the foot came down-.

Somehow, over the screaming and the panic and the power tearing at his skin, Mike still heard the crack-pop sound —like a gunshot or a firework but not, a sound he'd only heard once before but couldn't forget—.

Two silhouettes appeared from thin air in the street next to the building on which Mike was going to die and one of them threw a punch up at the descending foot.

Mike had read about the air going still in books. There had even been times when he'd stopped breathing from fear or tension. This was different. This was the entire world physically freezing for a span of heartbeats that might as well have been an eternity. Long enough to make out every flaming feather on the phoenix, long enough for his senses to blow wide and take in every detail of his surroundings like a picture, so crystal clear it felt like one wrong move and the world itself would shatter into a thousand pieces.

Then the air just in front of the thrown fist rippled.

And the world really did shatter.

They went tumbling through the air, out of control and dazed from the blast of not just air but **power** on a level Mike had never known existed. There was magic rolling over his skin like fire-light -sun-sound- **rage** , burning away the oily, poisonous feeling he hadn't been aware had been dragging down his limbs everyday of his life until the moment the new power blew it away.

Arms wrapped around them, too large to be human, too gentle and protective against the uncontrolled tumble through buildings and roads and trees to be a titan. They rolled to a stop as the world around them shook itself apart. Mike stared at the sky and tried to breathe through the power and shaking, through the sensation of the air physically yielding to a greater force even as Laxus-san slowly sat up and let them tumble into his lap.

When Mike pushed himself up —more instinct than conscious thought, sheer habit overriding the blank screaming in his mind—, it took a full minute to register what he was actually seeing.

Trost was gone. Nothing but matchsticks and pebbles for **miles** in front and around and behind them — _everyone was evacuated_ , he reminded himself, _everyone that was still living is now outside the city_ —. He hoped. He **prayed**. Because anyone alive in Trost who hadn't had a friendly giant to catch and shield them probably wasn't anymore. Either flattened under the ruined houses and trees —smashed to the earth in was looked like **ripple patterns** , like someone had thrown a rock into a pond and the buildings were the water—, or crushed beneath the Colossal Titan lying flat on its back with one footless leg stump swinging helpless in the air.

Wait.

 **What**.

The Colossal Titan's leg steamed as the foot slowly grew back, and it raised its head at the same moment the truly massive man relaxed out of his punching position and straightened to his full height —the man was huge, **at least** double the height of a fifteen meter—. White smoke that glowed like light and felt like scorching _sunlight-fire-anger_ even from Mike's shaking position in Laxus-san's lap wafted off of the man's shoulders like Laxus-san's lightning had curled off of his, silent and dangerous.

Haruta-san floated down to help Laxus-san stand with his rescuees and through his shock, Mike more felt than heard one of them whisper, " _Oyaji's_ here, thank Mavis."

 _Oyaji_. Father.

That was their father.

That man with the biggest, most ridiculous white mustache Mike had ever seen, with scars littering his skin like trophies and a massive purple tattoo in the shape of a fairy's silhouette on his back. That man who was calmly watching as the Colossal Titan staggered upright and radiated enough power that the largest monster humanity had ever seen **hesitated** to approach him. That man who was tall enough to be eye level with the **Colossal Titan's waist** and had just **flattened** the evacuated city of Trost with a single punch. That was their father.

To borrow from Levi, **holy sh*t and what the actual f*ck**.

"If there is any intelligence within you, **creature** ," echoed the same deep voice he'd heard from Wren-san's calling card not long ago —but larger, deeper, full of restrained wrath and intent and will that made Mike's knees give out—, "you will turn around and leave this place until the circle is broken and you are given rest. However, make one movement closer to my children…" The wafting tendrils of white exploded into a fountain of pressure that lit the surrounding area like a second sun, "and your end will be **painful**. So says Edward Newgate of Fairy Tail."

The Colossal Titan didn't move for what felt like an eternity. Long enough for Laxus-san, Haruta-san and the newly arrived phoenix-human to gather up the unresponsive scouts and flee with them to the main part of Wall Rose. Mike looked away from the stare down long enough to gape at how effortlessly the giants climbed to the top of Wall Rose. Some of them settled there while other giants and several rescued scouts went to provide backup for the guard detail of the evacuees. The teleporting giant popped in long enough to grab backup for his side of the operation —apparently things were going just as wrong over there, he had gone for backup but ended up delivering Newgate-san to this battle instead—, then disappeared again with a crack of magic.

Then the air shifted and everyone looked across the ruins of Trost to where the Colossal Titan roared down at Newgate-san. The fountain of light and pressure somehow spiked, then vanished as the man slid into an opening hand-to-hand stance, "Very well. Come and perish then, creature."

"H-he's actually g-going to fight the Colossal?" Stammered Arlert in the tense silence, "B-but that's-!"

" _Oyaji_ will be fine." The words and variants thereof echoed all down the line of giants as they settled more firmly onto the Wall. The giant with the pompadour even relaxed enough to swing his legs over the side of the Wall and grin, "We're gonna have to run away if _Oyaji_ gets serious though, this thing," he patted the Wall, "Won't stay standing for long if he does."

 _That punch earlier wasn't_ ** _serious_** _-?_ Mike wanted desperately to ask, but then the Colossal swung its fist down at Newgate-san and the battle began.

And Mike had something new to contemplate on his deathbed, no matter how close or far away that deathbed would be.

Every blow exchanged sent shockwaves through the air, churned the ruins of the buildings into further disarray. Every time one of them was knocked back created ravine-like furrows in the dirt from the sheer strength of legs that refused to buckle under the onslaught of the opponent. The smaller titans that kept spawning and crawling their way toward the battle were crushed or torn apart by the shockwaves within moments of forming, too small to survive the ripples of pressure Mike could see physically tearing apart the air —he had no idea how they were safe from it even on the Wall, not until he dared to glance to one side and realize that the other giants watching alongside him were glowing with enough of their own magic to form some kind of raw, instinctive shield—.

Giant and titan clashed again and again, whirling across the ruins of Trost with a speed that belied both of their sizes as tactics and martial expertise clashed with raw brute force and regeneration. Except, with every blow that ripped apart the Colossal's reaching hands and sent it staggering back with chunks missing from its main body or limbs, Mike became convinced that brute force was not on the Colossal's side. It was on **Newgate-san's**.

He watched, speechless, as the old man of a giant deflected a punch to the side, let the Colossal overbalance and stagger all of one step before he drove his fist into its side. Even over the shockwave, everyone on the Wall could hear the wet snap-crunch of muscles-ribs-organs collapsing beneath the blow. The Colossal staggered with a roar, half its side caved in and steaming. It pulled itself upright, swinging a backhanded fist that made Newgate-san skid back. For the first time in minutes, both fighters paused, the Colossal from a wavering balance as its side reformed, the giant from a breathless **laugh** as he acknowledged aloud, "A truly dark and genius mind created you, creature. Strong enough to withstand so many repeated assaults and injuries, no fear or intelligence to hamper your continual assaults. It would seem I must do more **permanent** damage."

"Welp, everybody get ready to jump off the wall," muttered one of giants with far too much cheer, " _Oyaji's_ breaking out the serious moves."

"Those weren't serious?" The question, so quiet it was almost strangled despite its composure, came from Commander Erwin, who had joined them at some point on the Wall without Mike's notice. A glance over at his superior officer revealed Erwin's face frozen in a blank position that gave no sign of the fear and awe that had quieted his voice and turned his skin bloodless white. Mike knew he probably didn't look any better.

"Oh, he was, but there's serious and then there's-" in the distance, Newgate-san sidestepped another clumsy punch from the Colossal and scouts started swearing when a flash of light and a whistle of parting air heralded the titan's arm coming off at the elbow, "that."

"That" was the biggest bisento Mike had ever seen, its edge glowing with the same power that had shattered the air so many times already, and really that thought was more terrifying than it had any right to be —blunt force had already done so much damage, now he was honing it to a fine edge?—. An easy whirl of the wooden haft and the blade bit into the Colossal Titan's unprepared waist, tearing through it with a roar of pain from the creature and a ripple of magic. The titan collapsed to the ground with a rush of steam emitting from everything but its spine —the only thing not sliced clean through—. It writhed on the ground as Newgate-san raised his weapon over his head like an executioner, prepared to destroy the nape now that it was finally within reach.

Newgate-san paused. Lowered his bisento a fraction as he turned to face the gaping hole the Colossal Titan had created in Trost's outermost Wall, "Well, it would seem I have taken too long."

Everyone followed his line of sight, and Mike felt like his heart was going to lurch right out of his throat at **two more** massive, skinless faces watching them through the gap of the Wall, hesitating to enter but clearly not for very long. Curses flitted somewhere in the back of his head, because Newgate-san could hold his own against one, but this was two —three if Newgate-san didn't hurry up and kill the one at his feet—, and how was **any** man, giant or not, supposed to survive that?

 _And if more magic is what keeps creating these things, then how many more will form in the wake of defeating three of them?_ Mike could almost see it. Waves upon waves of Colossal Titans. Growing and growing in number until even the giants and Survey Corps were overrun and there was nothing left to save humanity.

The Colossal Titan at Newgate-san's feet began to push itself upright, and the giant didn't look away from the two new opponents for an instant even as his bisento struck out one-handed, biting clean through the nape before the titan could do more than get its hands beneath its body. Steam exploded out, clouding the field and almost hiding Newgate-san's silhouette as the two new Colossal Titans straightened up and began pushing through the Wall at the same time, forcing it wider with their bodies, heedless of the damage done to them by the sharp stone edges.

"Marco!" Newgate-san's voice boomed from the steam, "I summon you!" There was something formal about those words, something that was less a strange call for aid and more a code phrase —Mike would know, Erwin had drilled code phrases into his officers for years just in case something happened to make certain humans enemies as well as titans—. The giant who was also phoenix flipped off the Wall with a shriek that wasn't titan or human or giant. Something that echoed in Mike's bones like fire and ancient starscapes. The human form burned away in a flash of fire and the phoenix spiraled into the air.

As the two Colossals came closer and the steam from the last one faded away, the phoenix —Marco-san— flared to a stop over Newgate-san's head, hovering on glowing blue-gold wings, beak opening in another shrill, bone-deep cry. The bisento came up and back, the blade stopping just below the phoenix's talons. Marco-san's talons wrapped around the blade and the Mike had to squeeze his eyes shut against the explosion of fire and magic as the bisento burst into glowing, multi-colored flames as the phoenix gave a final cry that was not so much words as some kind of … impression. Knowledge pressed into Mike's head —and wasn't that an unnerving sensation— in the shape of, _"Phoenix Magic: Blessing of the Phoenicis!"_

The light faded as Marco-san spun in the air and flew back to the Wall, leaving behind a bisento that still glowed with multi-colored fire but didn't burn. The giant with the pompadour stood up to catch Marco-san as he landed back on the Wall, exhaustion in his shoulders as he leaned heavily on his comrade, "Well, that should help for a little while, yoi."

Erwin dared to speak up as Newgate-san spun his glowing bisento in lazy circles and watched the two Colossal Titans come closer, "You aren't staying to help him?"

Tired, hooded eyes glanced at them, then back to the battlefield, "And get caught up in that, yoi? I'm not dumb. _Oyaji_ will shout if he needs more help. Besides, yoi…"

One of the new Colossal's lunged, tumbled to the ground with a roar as Newgate-san's bisento sliced clean through its knee. It flailed on the ground, clutching at a stump that was … not steaming. Newgate-san turned to the other one in time to block a blow with the glowing haft of his weapon and the Titan recoiled, the knuckles of its fist half eaten by flames. Across the battlefield, Newgate-san actually **laughed**. Marco-san finished his sentence as the first titan crawled back to a standing position, its regrown leg oddly small and warped, "I already gave him all the help he needs. I don't have the reserves to use it on myself, but I have no problems blessing a weapon." The grin that tugged at Marco-san's face was slightly feral, "Let's see how those monsters deal with a weapon that doesn't just cut, but **purify** , yoi."

The battle began again, Newgate-san a whirlwind of energy and speed that did not belong to someone his age. The Colossal Titans staggered under his assault, every new injury repairing more and more slowly, every regrown limb smaller and weaker than the one before. Mike had no idea how "purifying fire" had any effect on the Titans, but it was clear that the multi-colored flames on the bisento were doing something to steadily disable their infamous healing factor.

"I am … really glad he's on our side," whispered one of the Scouts at some point in the deadly dance, possibly in between Newgate-san taking off another arm and him having to dodge an assault from behind by the crawling Colossal he had just de-legged at the knees.

 _I am too._

But even with the added power of Marco-san's fire, two Colossal Titans were a dangerous challenge. Newgate-san was pushed back and forth across the field, whittling the Titans' abilities and power down but unable to land a final, finishing blow on them. Beside Mike, Hanji was softly counting the minutes, trying to estimate when there would be enough magic to create a new Colossal Titan.

Newgate-san was in mid-strike against the Colossal that still had legs but only little stumps of arms when the world began to shake again- and not from Newgate-san's magic. Something unnamable built around them, shivered and twisted and **shrieked** like a living thing even though there was no living thing in the world that could make a noise like that. Arms wrapped around him and several other scouts without warning as the giants fled from the Wall with shouts of alarm that could barely be heard over the unnamable shriek.

The air seemed to shudder, buckle under some strain Mike could not comprehend-.

Relaxed suddenly, like a cool breeze during the worst days of summer stillness, or cold sunshine on freshly fallen snow. The world didn't break this time so much as **clear** , for the first time in Mike's lifetime. The ruined earth beneath them gleamed with countless black lines that then faded away like a stain under hot water. Above their heads, the air trembled with thunder and Mike looked up in time to see the clear blue sky peel away like curtains to reveal a massive, all encompassing black storm stretching over their heads for miles. Then that too faded from unnatural black and bloody red to soft, mournful grey.

The clouds above them opened with soft, drizzling rain and Mike had never considered himself poetically inclined or particularly sentimental in his life, but when Arlert whispered, "The sky is crying." Mike couldn't help but inwardly agree. The sky was crying.

It felt like relief. Like breathing after an eternity of drowning and never even realizing it. Like he'd gone his entire life agonized and dying and hadn't realized it until the pain was just- gone without a trace.

"Mavis above," whispered one of the giants, "the monsters are gone." Mike's gaze swung down from the sky again and … the giant was right. The Colossal Titans were gone. **All** the Titans were gone. No fading bodies, no wisps of steam. There wasn't a trace of them left save for the sheer destruction the battle had left behind.

Newgate-san turned around, chest rising and falling from exertion, and his face turned up into a grim smile as he looked over everyone's heads, "Gurarara … It's not just the monsters."

Everyone turned around and Laxus-san put them down hurriedly to keep from dropping them at the sight before them.

All of Isayama lay bare before their eyes, a horizon stretching before them farther than Mike had ever seen save from atop the Walls. The Walls that **weren't there anymore**. They were gone. Not even traces of dust left behind. There was grass where there should have been rubble, or at least bare earth. The Wall were completely gone and Mike **hadn't even heard it happen**.

 _She was right,_ whispered part of his mind, _she was right about the Walls being tied to the Titans. She was right and now both are gone, which means- which means…_ They were free? They were really…?

"Armin- Armin, Mikasa, look!" Yeager, for once shouting in something that wasn't anger but **wonder** as he grabbed his two companions and turned them around and around and around like a spinning wheel, "No Walls … there are no Walls…"

Ackerman pulled them to a stop, raised her chin above her scarf as she whispered into the silence, "We could go anywhere."

Armin was starting to smile, snapping out of the shock faster than any of the older scouts around him, "Eren … do you think we could go see the ocean? There's no Walls- no Titans- could we grab our horses and just…?"

"What would stop us?" Yeager's face twisted and huh, the kid actually **could** smile, big and bright as he suddenly whooped, "It's over, Armin! It's over, we won! We're **free**!"

Like a dam breaking, scouts and giants alike began cheering in the rain, not even pausing when the teleporting one reappeared and snatched away his group of kids, probably to go find their little blond ringleader who had started this.

Mike looked around, just a bit numb, not quite able to process his own thoughts despite the massive grin spreading on his face. He limped quietly past Hanji and the two giants carefully spinning each other around —mindful of the scouts around them, which he hadn't expected somehow— to come to a stop by his leader's side. Erwin was staring at the sky with a blank expression, but he didn't think it was his imagination that some of those raindrops sliding down his face were actually tears. Mike pretended he hadn't noticed as he murmured, "I hate to jump to conclusions without a full report, but…"

"No," murmured Erwin as he lowered his gaze back to the celebrations, "you can feel it, can't you? The poison in the air is gone. Poison we've been breathing all our lives. We truly are free."

"So what do we do now?"

Erwin's gaze flashed cold — **angry** — for just a second before it returned to blank composure and determination, "We make sure it stays that way."

"I believe I would be able to assist with that," rumbled Newgate-san as he knelt before them —it didn't help, they still had to crane their heads back to see his face and his shadow still covered them—.

Erwin settled his hands behind his back, "You would be willing to lend further assistance?"

"Wren has kept her promise and I and my children have helped her to uphold the honor of Fairy Tail. However," Newgate-san's eyes were hard, "my children have also **suffered** for your freedom. My children have bled, and the _Raijinshū_ under my care especially have born a great trial on behalf of your people." Mike felt his bones chill at those words and became hyper aware at the bloody scratches and bites he could see if he looked at the celebrating giants, the limps and the bruises that littered them all.

As if he could read their minds, Newgate-san said, "I will not demand a debt from you or any of your people. But I will also not tolerate their sacrifice being in vain. You stated earlier that your government was suspect in this travesty. The perpetrators of this spell will be rooted out so that there is no chance of a reoccurrence and the corruption that you implied as necessary for this level of evil will be investigated. By **adults**."

Newgate-san's eyes narrowed, danger in his gaze before he continued, "Wren has kept her part of the promise, my children have bled in your streets. I personally will aid you to ensure the last of this evil is found and destroyed, but I will also not forget that you willingly sent a seven year old **child** into the heart of enemy territory to meet your goals. From this point onward, none of my children or the _Raijinshū_ will set foot on this island or give you aid except with my direct knowledge and permission." _You will never try to use them in your plans again, or else,_ hovered the unspoken threat, "Do we have an understanding?"

Commander Erwin looked all around himself for a long moment, taking in the injuries and the lives, the freedom suddenly in their own hands. He looked back up at Newgate-san and Mike thought he saw a glimmer of … not trust. Commander Erwin did not trust anyone, not really. But there was respect there. Cooperation. Commander Erwin saluted the giant and Mike followed suit hastily as his Commander answered, "We have an accord. What do you have in mind? Searching for enough genuine evidence to prove individual guilt or innocence will take much longer than I believe you are willing to stay."

Newgate-san's mustache curled up with his dangerous smile, "How do you feel about staging a coup first and weeding out the guilty later?"

"You would be willing to kill humans on our behalf?"

"I wouldn't have to. I have until the Rune Knights arrive to investigate this matter to help with the transition, and I **highly doubt** anyone is going to rebel against those who have a very stern giant or three standing around glowering on their behalf."

Mike could see Commander Erwin file the name "Rune Knights" away in his memory to ask about later. For now, the Commander's lips curled upward into the first genuine —if dark— smile he'd seen in years, "I think that would encourage cooperation greatly, yes."

Mike figured he should be very alarmed right now. His Commander was talking about staging a **coup** with the help of **giants**. But they had their freedom for the first time in a century. If a little regime change was what it took to ensure they **kept it** , then Mike couldn't bring himself to feel the slightest bit guilty about it.


End file.
